Threshold Sues Warner Bros Over Rights to Third MK Film
Liu Kang wins... LEGALITY!
With recent reports of the third MK movie being started up again by Warner Bros., it was only a matter of time before Threshold Entertainment voiced its concerned about its own intellectual property rights on the Franchise.

Apparently, Threshold had signed a contract with Midway to renew its rights to the films as recently as 2006. Warner Bros. has selected a screenwriter (Oren Uziel) apparently without any involvement from Threshold, therefore they have filed a new breach of contract lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court stating that WB "has avoided communicating with Threshold and has in bad faith prevented Threshold from utilizing the interest they have in the MIDWAY property".

Interestingly enough, the complaint also mentions separate litigation from Threshold Entertainment against Warner Bros. for the rights to the two previous films.

Ed Boon, commenting from Twitter, had this to say:
February 17, 2010: Must. Bite. Tongue. Harder.... http://tinyurl.com/ylejpnu
So, who really is entitled to produce the third Mortal Kombat film - Warner Bros. or Threshold? Does Midway's bankruptcy and subsequent purchase by WB negate Threshold's rights, or not? These are the questions that will be decided in court, but its the fans who could ultimately lose, as there currently seems to be no end in sight for the nearly 15 years the movie's been in "development hell".

To read Threshold's original complaint in its entirety, click here (PDF format). To read the article on Kotaku, click here.

Thanks again to samus_aran3900 for yet another News Lead!

Update: February 25, 2011 – Warner Bros. won a major victory in a Los Angeles Superior Court this week, with the finding that a December ruling judgment for them to pay Threshold $14,000 rendered the rest of the case moot. (The original amount of the lawsuit against Warner Bros. was for $9.3 million). Warner Bros. wrote, in a statement to Hollywood Reporter regarding how WB honored the contract regarding income from the first two MK movies:
"We are very pleased that the court dismissed Threshold’s multi-million dollar claims... This victory fully vindicates Warner’s position that it accounted to Threshold fairly, appropriately and according to the parties’ contract."
While this seems to clear the way for Warner Bros. to proceed with releasing the Mortal Kombat films on Blu-Ray unhindered [full story], Threshold has announced plans to appeal and additionally, has 2 separate pending lawsuits against Warner Bros., one of them potentially hindering their ability to proceed with the upcoming Mortal Kombat live action series..
Microsoft to Discontinue Support for Original Xbox Live
Microsoft has announced that it will be dropping online play for their original Xbox systems effective April 15, 2010. This means no more Xbox Live for the following Mortal Kombat games:
  • Mortal Kombat: Deception
  • Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
  • Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (featuring Raiden)

Additionally, Microsoft has announced that original Xbox games that have been formatted to work on the Xbox 360 will also lose the ability to be played online.

To read the original story in its entirety, click here. Thanks go to samus_aran3900 for the tip on this story!
All Midway Titles Removed from Xbox Marketplace, Including UMK3

According to a report seen on Kotaku, all of Midway's titles on Xbox LIVE Marketplace have been removed. This also includes the sole MK title on Arcade: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. According to the article, the titles are still available on the console if the titles were already purchased, and could possibly still be downloaded if deleted. However, it is not possible to purchase them at this time. The cause of the removal is not known at this time, but it's very possible it's due to rights transfers between Midway and Warner Bros. Games.

Interestingly, PSN Midway titles have been unaffected so far. Whether this will continue to be the case remains to be seen.

To read the story on Kotaku, click here.

Our thanks to our friends over at TRMK for the heads-up on this new development!

UPDATE - 12:15 PM CST - Microsoft's Major Nelson has confirmed on his Twitter that the games were pulled due to rights issues, and that if you had purchased them you can still play them or re-download them. To see his Twitter where he posted this information, click here. Our thanks again to our friends at TRMK for the heads-up!

Bloody Disgusting Reports Mortal Kombat Movie Reboot in the Works

The folks over at Bloody Disgusting are reporting that Warner Bros. are in the process of making a new Mortal Kombat movie; as earlier reports have rumored, this movie will supposedly be a reboot of the movie franchise. The screenwriter is a virtual unknown, but has won an award for his previous unfilmed work. From the story:

Bloody Disgusting received word that Warner Bros. Pictures has been looking to redo Mortal Kombat with Oren Uziel in talks to write. Based on Midway's popular 1992 video game, the franchise follows the best fighters from around the globe who are summoned to an island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will determine the fate of the entire planet. Uziel's Shimmer Lake made the 2009 black list, which features the best unproduced screenplays around Hollywood.

While virtually nothing else about this reboot is known at this point, it would make sense that Warner Bros. is moving to make a new movie; with having acquired the MK license from Midway, Warner Bros. would want to take advantage of their new property as quickly as possible.

We'll keep an eye on this story, and will report anything new as soon as we hear it.

Our thanks to forum member -[?]- for letting us know about this story!

Minor Updates Concerning The Next MK
MK9: Attack of the Dogs
Where to start? There's not a major update at this time, but there have been a whole bunch of minor ones. Alone, they are seemingly unimportant, but as the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. So with that, let's discuss the latest goings-on in the world of Mortal Kombat, shall we?

First, there is no more Midway.com, as the domain now points to the Video Games section on WarnerBros.com. While mainly a cosmetic change, the signs that the MK team is under new ownership is beginning to show. (Thanks to GoDisNotHereToday for this portion of the update.)

Incidentally, there is still a MidwayGames.com, although it's not working at the moment. One can imagine this will probably point to the WB at some point in the near future, as well.

Next, Ed Boon the Mortal Kombat team's test account (MK Noob) has been spotted playing MK9. Folks who have been keeping track of this account on the Playstation Network have noticed the change on their status. (Screenshot below, and thanks to MK Universe and their contributing user ShangTsung for the tip on this one.)


Finally, MK9 is clearly in the testing mode. Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick had this to say (on Twitter:

Ed Boon: Did you play last night? What bugs did you run into?

Shaun Himmerick: Yes I played last night. Too many bugs to mention. But tons of audio issues and 'join game' of friends issues

Correction: The above "tweets" were in reference to another game, 1 vs. 100, and not MK9. Sorry about any confusion this may have caused. Thanks to McCarron from TRMK for pointing this out!

In addition, another team member had the following to say about MK9:

Hector Sanchez: First day back at the office after a few weeks and I am absolutely floored by what the Designers just showed me. Today is a good day!

So there you have it. We will continue to follow the progress of the next installment of MK and post the news as it unfolds.
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