Whispers have come through the rumor mill that Warner Bros. is looking to remake the 1995 movie adaptation of Mortal Kombat, sometimes called the only decent videogame movie ever made.
Time and time again, I have heard gamers label the film adaptation of Mortal Kombat as the only good movie ever based off of a videogame. Unfortunately, here’s the sad truth: Mortal Kombat (the movie) was never actually good. It was, however, remarkably self-aware and incredibly cheesy, which is why it somehow managed to be genuinely entertaining – you know, given that it was a cheesy kung-fu movie adaptation of a game that was originally intended to capture the spirit of cheesy kung-fu movies.
Horror movie site Bloody Disgusting reports that rumor has it that Warner Bros. is quietly looking to remake the 1995 action flick about fighters summoned to a remote island to battle for the fate of humanity and Earth. The rumored remake will supposedly have its screenplay penned by Oren Uziel, who apparently does in fact possess some modicum of talent – his Shimmer Lake made 2009’s “black list,” a list of the year’s best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.
And that’s all we know. It might be true, it might not be – it’s a rumor, so take it as such. I have to admit that I’m skeptical: While Warner Bros. does own the rights to the Mortal Kombat franchise after purchasing them from the imploding Midway last year, Mortal Kombat is much less relevant today than it was in 1995. The bloody, over-the-top fighting game caused one of gaming’s earliest moral panics when it was released in 1992 (with one of the most memorable videogame commercials ever made), and was a huge hit in all senses of the word.
Now, though? It still has its fans, but it’s hardly the household name it once was.
Oh well – if Warner Bros. does remake the movie, maybe they can get Christopher Lambert back to reprise his role as Raiden. That would be pretty cool.
(Via Videogamer)
Published: Jan 26, 2010 05:25 pm