Mortal Kombat Movie Reboot Gets a Director

The Mortal Kombat movie reboot has been a long time coming, but now it seems it is moving ahead, [...]

The Mortal Kombat movie reboot has been a long time coming, but now it seems it is moving ahead, and has found a director.

Variety reports that Simon McQuoid is in talks with New Line to direct Mortal Kombat; McQuoid is a commercial director who has worked on high-profile campaigns for PlayStation, Beats by Dre and Halo. No word yet on what the storyline is, or any other casting news.

Mortal Kombat Movie Reboot Director

The first Mortal Kombat movie was directed by Resident Evil franchise helmer Paul W.S. Anderson in 1995, at the height of the video game's popularity. The movie adaptation (and its Enter the Dragon approach to the story) was a big success, earning $70 million at the domestic box office. John R. Leonetti's (Annabelle) 1997 followup Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was a flop in every way, only earning $53 million, and effectively crippling the brand for a while.

Director Kevin Tancharoen resurrected the Mortal Kombat movie franchise with his acclaimed 2010 short, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, which led to a web series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Tancharoen was in position to direct his own reboot film, but New Line never backed it; ironic, since Mortal Kombat has since lost a lot of hype, while Tancharoen has only grown in the industry, with he and sister Maurissa bringing heavy influence to projects like Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, and/or the DC CW TV shows.

The Mortal Kombat games have seen their fair share of rebooting in recent years, which give the movie reboot plenty of material to work with for a true fresh approach to the story and franchise. There have also been some great new characters added to the games that will be fun to see onscreen - especially if the new film fully embraces the mystical aspect of the games.

As for Simon McQuoid: he may seem like an unknown being given a massive responsibility, but great directors have come from commercial directing, visual effects work - anywhere in the industry, really. Neil Blomkamp (District 9), Zack Snyder (Justice League) or Tim Miller (Deadpool) are just a couple of examples of movie talent that has evolved out of other sorts of directorial work. New Line perhaps knows something about McQuoid that the rest of the world will see soon enough.

We'll keep you updated on the status of the Mortal Kombat reboot.

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