The Conjuring and Furious 7 helmer James Wan has reportedly signed on to produce Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat movie
James Wan, whose Furious 7 hit theaters earlier this summer, is, according to a story today at The Tracking Board, set to serve as producer on New Line Cinema and Broken Road’s Mortal Kombat movie.
With Wan set to produce, it is believed that the Mortal Kombat movie will move forward sooner rather than later. The project was being planned, a few years back, to be helmed by choreographer-turned-director Kevin Tancharoen. Responsible for the popular web series adaptation, “Mortal Kombat: Legacy,” Tancharoen announced himself that he would not helm the Mortal Kombat movie back in 2013.
The first Mortal Kombat video game was developed by Midway Games and released in 1992. The storyline sees a diverse range of fighters hailing from eighteen different realms become pitted against one another in an epic tournament. Quite a few sequels followed the original game with the most recent, Mortal Kombat X, seeing release earlier this year.
In addition to the web series, two Mortal Kombat movies have already been released. The first, simply titled Mortal Kombat, was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and saw release in 1995. It was followed two years later with a sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which also paved the way for two television series: the animated “Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm” and the live-action “Mortal Kombat: Konquest.”
According the outlet, the Mortal Kombat movie will follow a male protagonist who becomes drawn into the interdimensional tournament, and who begins to realize his true potential as a result of the experience. The screenplay hails from “Legacy” scribe Oren Uziel and well as The Expendables and Godzilla‘s Dave Callaham.
Before his Furious 7 took the summer box office by storm (grossing an impressive $1.5 billion worldwide), Wan was already receiving acclaim for his 2013 hit The Conjuring. Wan is returning to direct the sequel, The Conjuring: The Endfield Poltergeist, which is slated to hit theaters June 10, 2016. Want will also direct Warner Bros.’ Aquaman movie, starring Jason Momoa and opening in theaters on July 27, 2018.
(Photo credit: FayesVision / WENN.com)
