Is This MORTAL KOMBAT: REBIRTH Viral Video Trying to Sell a Hard-R Adaptation to Warner Bros?

by Matt Goldberg    Posted:June 8th, 2010 at 3:11 pm


An impressive short film entitled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth hit the web earlier today.  It centers on Jax trying to convince a shadowy figure to enter the Mortal Kombat tournament and kill vicious psychopaths Baraka, Reptile, and other murderers that are participating.  It’s a “real-world” approach so Reptile is actually the victim of a rare hereditary disease and Baraka is a doctor who went mad and inserted giant blades into his arms (but not in the stupid Deadpool way from X-Men Origins: Wolverine).  Basically, no one has superpowers beyond freakish behavior and martial arts.

Hit the jump to check out the short and learn more about the project and what it’s trying to accomplish.

UPDATE: We landed an exclusive interview with director Kevin Tancharoen.  He talks about how the short came together and what he’d like to do in a feature version.  Click here to read it.

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The short stars Michael Jai White (Black Dynamite) and features Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager) along with martial artists Lateef Crowder, Ian Anthony Dale, Matt Mullins, with fight choreography by Larnell Stovall (who worked on Undisputed III, which I hear is a pretty great film despite its title and going straight-to-video).  Rebirth was directed by Kevin Tancharoen (last year’s remake of Fame) in an attempt to convince Warner Bros to make a Hard-R Mortal Kombat movie.  We reported in January that Warner Bros. was moving forward to relaunch the series, but in February it was revealed that the project had run into legal troubles.  I’ll admit that the short is a little silly in how seriously it takes itself, but you have to admire the craft and skill on display.  If I worked at Warner Bros., I’d be sold.

[Credit to Latino Review for providing the names of the folks involved and to Kotaku for first picking up the story.]







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45 Comments

User Comments (45 Responses)
  1. Aces15224 @ June 8th, 2010 10:21 pm

    lame

    Reply
  2. Droncz92 @ June 8th, 2010 10:30 pm

    nope, if they say Sub Zero is anything but Super Human than I am not buying it. Scrape this before they even start.

    Reply
  3. Blackstarr68 @ June 8th, 2010 11:17 pm

    That was the worst piece of crap ever how can they attempt to call that Mortal all it's using is the names of characters if Warner goes for this they better expect to lose money!!

    Reply
  4. Lukejtonelli @ June 8th, 2010 11:20 pm

    Well done, it seems you can relate the real world with fantasy

    Reply
  5. InfiniteMonkey @ June 9th, 2010 12:05 am

    Looks rather intense. The rest of the movie however…well…we'll just have to see.

    You know how this goes. They show us the best part and the rest is Shite! LOL!

    Reply
  6. MovieTechJunkie @ June 9th, 2010 12:21 am

    the cheesy-ness of Mortal Kombat is why we love it. With this type of movie I could care less if the storyline is below average.(if the gore is still there)

    As a Viral video I think it was good. I do not really like the Baraka reference, but hey nothings perfect. Just like Collider, if i was WB I would be sold. Hopefully they take note and actually reboot.

    Reply
  7. Treyhughes123 @ June 9th, 2010 1:14 am

    that was awesome

    Reply
  8. junierizzle @ June 9th, 2010 2:17 am

    Meh.

    Baraka looked lame.

    The original Mortal Kombat was actually good. But I guess they gotta remake everything.
    It wasn't really impressive.

    Reply
  9. Genre Addict @ June 9th, 2010 2:44 am

    I'm with you.

    Reply
  10. Thiago @ June 9th, 2010 3:57 am

    Jesus, the Mortal Kombat movies were horrible! I have no idea why people still think the first one was good.

    Reply
  11. Axford @ June 9th, 2010 4:35 am

    I like that they are taking it “serious” but serious doesn't mean it has to be “real.” Get back the mystic stuff and this could have huge potential.

    Reply
  14. The Geek Files @ June 9th, 2010 12:55 pm

    Can someone explain this American obsession with things being 'hard R'? I see it mentioned all the time on film sites like some kind of fixation. Do we need to see blood and entrails everywhere? The best horror films work on the level of terror and suspense not on how many buckets of ketchup they can throw up a wall.

    Reply
  15. Carl @ June 9th, 2010 2:14 pm

    Well… For one, it is supposed to be an adaptation of one of the most violent games of that time.

    And for another, blood and entrails are fun. Just because you cant't stand it doesn't mean you should stand you.

    Reply
  16. voodooshiznit @ June 9th, 2010 2:34 pm

    has potential to be awesome!!! and if the story line is lame who cares as long as its brutal…. anyone see ninja assassin… awesome movie, i have no idea what it was about thou ha!

    Reply
  18. Jr @ June 9th, 2010 3:42 pm

    This is awesome! However, the movie wouldnt be Mortal Kombat without the powers! They must show Raiden too and have him kinda scary looking with electricity running through his body like the game.

    Reply
  19. Tonamania @ June 9th, 2010 4:38 pm

    HA HA HA. Lame + nasty doesn't equal good. Spawn is snarling more than Ice Cube these days.

    Is this going straight to SyFy?

    Reply
  20. lazysmurf17 @ June 9th, 2010 10:18 pm

    its just a low budget version. they should have had all the gore and violence the first time. what made the first two game so popular were the fatalities which weren't in the movies.

    Reply
  21. Axford @ June 10th, 2010 3:01 am

    Ninja Assassin was horrible. It was crap….it sucked….I don't understand how you could find it awesome. I mean it didn't even have good action….I lost here.

    Reply
  22. thebearpaw @ June 10th, 2010 2:01 pm

    American? You pussy, hard R is a sign of manliness, not nationality.

    Reply
  23. HTX713 @ June 10th, 2010 4:49 pm

    i remember Baraka being leader of the Tarkata not some plastic surgeon

    Reply
  24. Maccam89 @ June 10th, 2010 6:22 pm

    I thought this was pretty cool.

    Reply
  25. srobb @ June 10th, 2010 8:26 pm

    This looks sweet. All the haters need to calm down. Obviously, no Mortal Kombat film is ever going to win an oscar, but these characters are too cool not to be in a hard-R film.

    Reply
  26. thecheese! @ June 10th, 2010 8:48 pm

    i think that a movie of this would be awesome and i would forsure go see it, but i think it would almost be better if they just kept making like 8-10 minute shorts for the internet, that i think maybe would be the best option…

    Reply
  27. Froddie @ June 10th, 2010 9:49 pm

    this movie looks pretty good i wonder if warner bros actually made a movie like this it would be much better and it probably get positive review's you got to think most movie's they make with special effect's it's mostly cg and if it's not like transformer's it probably suck to many like db evolution

    Reply
  28. Etcfurniture @ June 10th, 2010 10:04 pm

    As a hardcore Mortal Kombat fan I have to say this is a disaster, Trying to ground a story based on mysticism and magic and parallel universes into reality is worthless. We want to see a Mortal Kombat that is true to the source material. The short videos between the games are better….

    Reply
  29. Bruce @ June 11th, 2010 9:41 pm

    Are they actually trying to make Scorpion look like a good guy and Sub Zero the bad guy? Sub Zero was hunting Scorpion, not vice versa. Sub Zero would work with Jax and Sonya. Scorpion never would.

    Reply
  30. Bruce @ June 11th, 2010 2:41 pm

    Are they actually trying to make Scorpion look like a good guy and Sub Zero the bad guy? Sub Zero was hunting Scorpion, not vice versa. Sub Zero would work with Jax and Sonya. Scorpion never would.

    Reply
  31. L00fah @ June 11th, 2010 10:40 pm

    You, sir, are less a man for bashing on Ninja Assassin.

    Reply
  32. Jacolby65 @ June 12th, 2010 9:21 pm

    It misses the whole point of MK by abandoning the Asian mythological and supernatural elements, but aside from that… pretty well done.

    Reply
  33. Big-D @ June 23rd, 2010 2:01 am

    Um…This actually looks AWESOME. Screw the short! Full action film!!!!!

    Reply
  34. leniamonio @ June 27th, 2010 6:46 pm

    Your name is even more lamer. Did you know, the whole clip was funded only with 7K USD?

    Reply
  35. Jonmarsh @ July 8th, 2010 7:27 am

    this remake looks awesome. people need to get used to change. its going to happen nonetheless. yes i agree the first 2 mortal kombats were awesome, i liked them. and this remake takes it in a whole new direction. more realistic. hope this goes through

    Reply
  36. Shaun @ July 19th, 2010 7:23 pm

    This trailer was awesome with the new technology we have today and with those actors playing the characters from mortal kombat, it would be a huge mistake not to make this movie everyone ive told about this movie possibility have been dying to hear more PLZ somebody fund this masterpiece itll blow the old movies out of the water guaranteed.

    Reply
  37. Akul Matheyr @ August 5th, 2010 7:59 pm

    WwWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH! GET OVER IT!

    Reply

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