These are the first known articles on the movie from Daily and Weekly Variety:

Daily Variety - September 30, 1993 - Page 7

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER SO, 1093 BAIIY VARIETY 'KOMBAT' PROJECT ANNOUNCED
BY ANDY MARX "Mortal Kombat." the coun try's most popular video arcade game and one of the best-selling homevideo games, will be coming to the big screen, courtesy of former Lightstorm Entertain-ment president Larry Kasanoff, who plans to produce a film and TV scries based on the game. Kasanoff. who ankled his posi tion at Lightstorm in |unc, has been engaged by Midway Manu-facturing Company and Williams Electronics Games — the mak-crs of the best-selling products — to set up deals for a feature film and TV scries based on the (BBOFMBW Continued from page I a merchandising line based on the games. Although both agreements are independenl of each other, Kasanoff and Simon will be working closely together on the launch in bolh anas. "Mortal Kombal. " which made history Scpl. 13 by becom ing the industry's biggesl homev- idco game launch ever, with sales exceeding 2.2 million units, in volves the world's best fighters, who gather to compete in a highly secretive and violent tournament held on the island of Ihe evil and mysterious Shang Tsung. "This is exactly (he kind of multimedia opportunity I left Lightstorm to pursue. " Kasanoff said. Kasanoff said he has been alter the righls to Ihe games for the last three months and that he is aim ing for production by next suni- mer. "Since il already exists in a visual medium, " he added, "that will make ihings easier. " Simon, who worked with Kasanoff on ihe successful mer- chandising launch of "Termina- tor 2," said " Mortal Kombal" merchandising will play an im- portant pari in broadening ihe success of the game.

Weekly Variety - October 11, 1993 - Page 20

Kasanoff ready for ' Mortal Kombat' Videogame "Mortal Kombat" will come to the big and little screen courtesy of former Lightstorm Ent. president Larry Kasanoff. Kasanoff has been engaged by Midway Manufacturing Company and Williams Electronics Games to set up deals for a feature film and television series based on their bestselling vidgame. Kasanoff said, "This is exactly the kind of multimedia opportunity I left Lightstorm to pursue. I had seen a world of opportunities in converging multimedia entertainment and this is the first manifestation of this and the best example. These characters are fantastic and will translate wonderfully to film and television."

Daily Variety - October 22, 1993 - Page 21

New Line, Kasanoff join in 'Kombaf BY MICHAEL GOLDMAN Kasanoff New Line Cinema has inked a deal with Midway Manufacturing Co. to produce a live-action film based on Mid way's success-ful and graphic \ ideogame "Mortal Kom-bal." New Line president and chief operating officer Michael De Luca an- nounced Thursday The deal follows a quick month of negotiating with former Light - storm Pictures prexy Larry Kasanoff, who will produce the NEW LINE AGREESTO f K0MBAT "We're not worried about an other Mario." " De I ucu said. "Whal we have (o do is avoid the pitfalls of making a bad movie. That's ihe only consideration, not where the idea comes from. I don't ihink developing a video game is harder than a book or a comic book. The key is making a good movie, regardless of the source." "Mortal Kombal " made his tory on Sept. 13 wilh the biggest launch ever of a home videogame, with sales exceeding 2.2 million Continued from page 1 film (CMy Mznefy. Sept. 30). Midway retained Kasanoff, who left Lighlstorm in |unc, to represent film and television rights for "Kombat" late last month. Kasanoff said a frenzied round of bidding begun im mediately to make the film, based on "Mortal Kombat's " record-setting performance as both an arcade and home videogame. But New Line apparently had the inside track from the outset due to KasanofTs relationship with senior vice president of ac quisitions Ruth Vitale. with whom Kasanoff worked at Ves- tron I nc. several years ago. Kasanoff added, "Michael Dc Luca and his people have a great knowledge of the game — he ac tually plays Mortal Kombat' — and they were the only ones who would commit to making the movie, nut just develop a deal." De Luca said the project will receive priority attention. Although no production or cast names have yet been at tached. De Luca said "Mortal Kombat" will be on New Line's IQQ4 production slate and he ex pects a release sometime in 1995. New Line International began selling the film a I the Mi fed film market in Italy Thursday, as soon as the deal was finalized. Both men rejected any com parison between the "Kombat" project and "Super Mario Bros.,' also based on a popular videogame, which bombed this past May.

Weekly Variety - November 01, 1993 - Page 22

NEW LINE JOINS IN 'KOMBAT' New Line Cinema has inked a deal with Midway Manufacturing Co. to produce a live-action film based on Midway's successful and graphic videogame "Mortal Kombat," New Line president and chief operating officer Michael De Luca announced. The deal follows a month of negotiating with former Lightstorm Pictures prexy Larry Kasanoff, who will produce the film (Daily Variety, Sept. 30). Midway retained Kasanoff, who left Lightstorm in June, to represent film and television rights for "Kombat" in late September. Kasanoff said "Mortal Kombat's" record-setting performance as both an arcade and home videogame sparked a frenzied round of bidding to make the film. But New Line apparently had the inside track from the outset due to Kasanoff s relationship with senior vice president of acquisitions Ruth Vitale, with whom he worked at Vestron Inc. several years ago. De Luca said "Mortal Kombat" will be on New Line's 1994 production slate and he expects a release in 1995.