On the heels of its anticipated debut, Mortal Kombat pushed back its release date by one week.
Instead of debuting in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16, the upcoming reboot will debut on April 23, as reported by Variety. Warner Bros.'s move to push back the film's debut is due, in part, to ensuring Godzilla vs. Kong's success doesn't clash with the martial arts film's.
To date, the epic clash of Godzilla vs. Kong has brought in $121 million at the global box office. The MonsterVerse film debuts in the states on March 31. The studio stated that pushing back Simon McQuoid's film by a week allows the Titans to gather ticket profits in the states -- while it's still new -- and not "cannibalize" ticket sales of Mortal Kombat.
When making this decision, Warner Bros. also looked to capacity restrictions changing throughout the country, due to the improving state of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 30, L.A. County loosened its indoor capacity restrictions, allowing venues -- like movie theaters -- to increase the indoor capacity of patrons up to 50%. Since L.A. is one of the largest theater districts in the U.S., Warner Bros.'s move has been linked to the belief that Mortal Kombat's new release date will lead to a weekend blockbuster opening that resembles sales pre-COVID.
The official synopsis for Mortal Kombat reads,
Inspired by the blockbuster video game franchise, which most recently enjoyed the most successful video game launch in its history with Mortal Kombat 11, Mortal Kombat features MMA fighter Cole Young, a brand new character to the Mortal Kombat universe, played by Lewis Tan.
In the film, Cole is unaware of his heritage, and why he is being hunted by Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung’s best warrior, Sub-Zero. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Once he is brought to the temple of Lord Raiden, Cole begins his training with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano. Soon he will stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.
Directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by James Wan, Mortal Kombat stars Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Bridges, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Matilda Kimber as Emily Young and Laura Brent as Allison Young. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max April 23.
Source: Variety