In the latest Mortal Kombat: Legacy casting twist, Michael Jai White has confirmed he will not be returning to the digitally released series -- but will reprise his role for the upcoming feature film!

@sweetre15 I'm coming back to do the Mortal Kombat movie but not the web series.

— Michael Jai White (@MichaelJaiWhite) December 5, 2012

White made an immediate impact headlining the series as man of action, Jackson "Jax" Briggs. Along with Legacy co-stars; Jeri Ryan, Ian Anthony Dale and Matt Mullins -- he was an early adopter for the series, appearing in Kevin Tancharoen's buzz building showreel: Rebirth. He featured prominently in the record breaking first two episodes, battling Darren Shahlavi's Kano.

Updates regarding the feature release have been scarce, but a budget of $40-50 million was recently revealed by producer, Lance Sloan. Jax was confirmed for a role in script teasers posted in June, with a showdown against Kabal an apparent feature.

Fifteen years after the last Mortal Kombat sequel received its theatrical release -- excerpts from a new production script have been teased by director, Kevin Tancharoen!

Released via micro-blogging site Twitter (@KTANCH), the script snapshots [below] offer the vaguest glimpse into a reboot still largely enshrouded in mystery. Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Jax feature in expected roles, but Kabal adds an unexpected reference to excite fans of the games.

Even before Mortal Kombat: Legacy wrapped its short online run [last year], rumors of an inevitable big screen return for the Dragon Logo have run rife. After months without news, plot details have been [allegedly] unearthed in an exclusive update from horror movie super-site, Bloody Disgusting.

Supermarket Sweep Kick: MK Movie to Spill Blood in Aisle 3?

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..

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: