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Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema’s Mortal Kombat II opened in theaters this weekend and had itself a flawless victory. Apologies for the obvious puns, but hey, they were there. Had to use it.
People weren’t entirely sure what kind of audience would show up for the sequel, considering the first film was essentially dumped during the COVID era and critically panned. Box office-wise, the 2021 film opened to just $23.3 million domestically and ended its entire theatrical run with only $84.4 million worldwide, although it was also released day-and-date on HBO Max, which absolutely hurt its theatrical potential.
With Mortal Kombat II, things are starting much stronger. The sequel opened to an estimated $40 million domestically this weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $63 million.
It’s the beginning of summer. People are still in school, but the Mortal Kombat fan base spans generations, especially audiences who grew up with the games in the ‘90s. This new movie really leaned hard into gore, action, and violence, while prioritizing nostalgia over story, much like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which obviously became a massive box office hit.
It feels like we’re moving deeper into the nostalgia era, where studios are finally realizing audiences would rather get something faithful and fan-driven than some bizarre studio reinvention. If you look back at the old ‘80s and ‘90s video game adaptations like Street Fighter or the original Super Mario Bros., those movies weren’t just bad at the time; they’re not even fun to revisit now.
At this point, I’d almost rather take a nostalgia play than another “Hollywood knows better” interpretation of beloved franchises. That mentality really started to collapse with Sonic the Hedgehog and the original nightmare design that fans bullied the studio into completely redesigning. Some people were annoyed that fans had that much power, but honestly? In some cases, they’re right.
Even the whole Zack Snyder situation became exhausting because the discourse got so loud and toxic, but at the end of the day, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was absolutely the superior version of that movie. Would it have changed the box office? Who knows.
Digressing.
Mortal Kombat II did what it was supposed to do and delivered a strong $40 million opening weekend. The film reportedly carried an $80 million production budget. That means the movie still has a long way to go before turning a real profit. It needs some legs here. Warner Bros. can’t afford an 80% second-week drop if they want this franchise to keep leveling up theatrically.
Still, a $40 million opening is huge for Mortal Kombat fans. The movie gave audiences exactly what they wanted, and honestly, good for them. It’s another strong start for genre movies at the box office this year.
Next week, Obsession enters the arena with a ton of hype, strong reviews, and really solid marketing, but the box office is already crowded. Even movies like Project Hail Mary are hanging around and refusing to collapse, while Mortal Kombat II heads into its second weekend. Even Michael is getting a fresh push in IMAX screens.
Obsession has a lot to compete against, but thankfully, it wasn’t an expensive pickup, so it doesn’t need gigantic numbers to be considered a success. Still, as a horror fan, I want it to go huge. I’m rooting for it. I want Obsession to crush. I want Curry Barker to become one of the new faces of horror.
We’ll see what happens next weekend.
As for Mortal Kombat II? It’ll probably be on HBO Max in like two weeks anyway, which is a whole separate problem we’ll save for another day.
Categorized:Box Office News
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