‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie Adds Fistful of Fighters (Exclusive)

New Line’s Mortal Kombat movie is lining up their fighters.

Supergirl actor Mehcad Brooks, Thor: Ragnarok actor Tadanobu Asano, Australian newcomer Sisi Stringer and Power Rangers actor Ludi Lin are stepping into the ring for the project, which is based on the iconic video game.

James Wan and Todd Garner are producing the mano-a-mano adaptation which will be the feature debut of veteran commercial director Simon McQuoid.

While the plot of the film remains unknown, the video game centers on a massive roster of character fighters from different realms in a fictional universe battling for supremacy. Greg Russo penned the current version of the screenplay.

Joe Taslim is already on board as Sub-Zero.

Brooks will be playing Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs, the Special Forces muscleman who is a mainstay in the video game franchise; Stringer is Mileena, the unstable, sai-jabbing assassin; Lin is Liu Kang, one of the game’s original characters, a monk-turned-fighter. Asano, a veteran actor in his native Japan, is in negotiations to play Raiden, the Japanese god of thunder.

New Line is aiming to have a diverse international cast so as to reflect the global nature of the franchise, with actors coming in from the worlds of film, television and martial arts. The company has slated a March 5, 2021 release.

First released in 1992, Mortal Kombat has sold over 49 million copies, spanning over a dozen canon games and expansions, making it one of the most profitable video game franchises of all time. Mortal Kombat 11 was released in April and has become the most successful launch in franchise history with the game currently the best-selling title of 2019.

Mortal Kombat, which is set to shoot later this year in southern Australia, will be exec produced by Larry Kasanoff, E. Bennett Walsh, Michael Clear and Sean Robins.

The game was previously adapted into a movie in 1995 by director Paul W. S. Anderson that went on to gross an impressive $122 million at the worldwide box office. It was followed by 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

Brooks, whose credits also include USA series Necessary Roughness and recent Tiffany Haddish comedy Nobody’s Fool, is repped by Artists First and Goodman Schenkman.

Asano played Hogun, one of the Warriors Three in Marvel’s Thor movies and will be seen in Roland Emmerich’s Midway. The actor, who worked with Martin Scorsese in the filmmaker’s period drama Silence, will also be seen with Johnny Depp in Minamata. He is repped by CAA, Slush Management and Sloane Offer.

Stringer is repped by CBM Management. 

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