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Mortal Kombat web series: From leak to Legacy
In June of last year, a video short appeared online under the name "Mortal Kombat: Rebirth." It was a polished, inventive take on the now classic fighting game franchise. Initially, its origins were unknown and fans could only speculate: Was it a clip from a new movie? An elaborate teaser for a new game? Quickly, however, director and choreographer Kevin Tancharoen's name was attached to the project, and then the actress playing Sonya Blade, Jeri Ryan, confirmed on Twitter that it wasn't a trailer at all, but a pitch aimed at Warner Bros. One that wasn't supposed to have been made public. "I wasn't exactly thrilled that it was leaked," Ryan says now, almost a year later. She had done the short as a favor for Tancharoen, whom she knew through a friend. Ryan first heard about the leak from fans while on a movie set in Montreal. "I came to the set, and later that day, there were 3000 tweets saying, 'What is this, what is this, what is this, what is this?' It was just crazy." "It wasn't supposed to go on the internet," reiterates Tancharoen, who had created the short film with his own money to send "out to different producers and things like that." He had uploaded it to YouTube on what he thought was a private page -- and the rest is history. Lucky for Tancharoen, Rebirth did reach Warner Bros. and impressed the studio enough to land the director a gig creating a live-action web series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy, to promote the new game. The first episode premiered today.
Jeri Ryan, Michael Jai White reprise 'Rebirth' roles in Mortal Kombat live-action series
Warner Bros. today confirmed the initial casting for the Mortal Kombat live-action digital series, which began shooting in Vancouver this month. Both Jeri Ryan (who spilled the beans last week on Twitter) and Michael Jai White will reprise their roles as Sonya Blade and Jax, respectively, from last year's "unofficial fan short" Mortal Kombat: Rebirth -- which was actually a totally professional pitch for a reimagined MK film, made by director Kevin Tancharoen. (While he didn't land the movie deal, Tancharoen did secure a gig directing, producing and co-writing the upcoming digital shorts.) Joining the duo of do-gooders will be Kano, played by Darren Shahlavi, who voiced one of the Tier 1 Operators in Medal of Honor and was an uncredited "Persian" in 300 -- so, obviously, dude knows how to fight. Surely, punches will be thrown and blood will be spilled as Tancharoen and cast resolve this storied love triangle in a hurry. The Mortal Kombat digital series is expected to span nine short episodes and will also feature Scorpion, Sub-Zero and additional characters from the game's universe. The shorts will be "available online" this spring, in conjunction with the April 19 release of the new Mortal Kombat game. "BTW, just finished reading the whole script for Mortal Kombat," Ryan recently tweeted. "Holy crap... I think u might just love it." [Pictured: Ryan (right) and Jai White in Mortal Kombat: Rebirth test footage]
Gritty Mortal Kombat concept trailer getting a webisode series
Remember that super violent, Michael Jai White-fronted trailer for a Mortal Kombat film reboot that magically appeared on the internet last summer? Well, sadly, it failed to sell Warner Bros. on the prospect of turning the trailer into a full, proper film -- but that doesn't mean the project is totally dead. According to horror fan site Bloody Disgusting, director Kevin Tancharoen will begin filming a 10-part Mortal Kombat webisode series next month, following in the same gritty vein as last year's pilot. Other than Jai White's continued involvement as Jax, Bloody Disgusting didn't mention many other details about the series' storyline. We'd usually like a little more reassurance than that; fortunately for these webisodes, the bar for Mortal Kombat-based pieces of cinema is unimaginably low. Like, low. We're talking subterranean, people. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
