Movies that adapt video games are often said to be "cursed," with many failing to earn back their budgets. One film that has escaped this "curse" is the 1995 film adaptation of Mortal Kombat, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. And it's thanks in part to the feedback he received at the test screenings.
Anderson recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly that two fight scenes — the battle between Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) and Scorpion (Chris Casamassa), and Liu Kang (Robin Shou) versus Reptile (Keith Cooke) — were much shorter than originally intended. "They were both long fights that involved a combination of aerial wire work and close-quarter combat," Anderson said. "They were the hardest in terms of the amount of effort that went into planning them and the difficulty in terms of their execution."
Ultimately it was a discussion with Ashby, as well as the reception from a test screening, that led Anderson to go back and expand the scenes with additional shooting. "We expanded the fight scenes, retested the movie, and it tested like gangbusters."
The first Mortal Kombat film celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. A new Mortal Kombat film produced by James Wan and featuring the directorial debut of Simon McQuoid is expected to premiere on Jan. 15, 2021.