If I could, first thing I'd do is aim for NC-17 or R. I'd pretty much adapt either the first game or Mythologies, or do both, with the MK 1 adaption being live action in theaters and MKM being R/Mature Audiences animated film on DVD (being released a 2-4 months prior to the MK adaption).

MK 1, Two Hours minimum, mainly so I could try to give the main seven warriors equal screen time and to make a coherent story but also keep it a tournament.

When I saw the first two MK films, I thought the actors were great and getting so much flak even though it wasn't their fault theses adaptions were poorly written.
My ideal cast choices for the main cast:
Johnny Cage: Ryan Reynolds or Matt Mullins
Liu Kang: Rain, Jang Dong-gun, Jay Chou or Robin Shou again.
Kano:Ralph Fiennes, Darren Shahlavi, Robet Downey Jr., or Sam Worthington
Raiden: Christopher Lambert, Gary Oldman, Keaneu Reeves, or Mark Strong
Scorpion/ Hanzo Hassahi: Chris Casamassa or Ian Anthony Dale
Sonya: Jaime Pressely Natalie Portman or Kristana Loken
Sub-Zero/Bi Han: I'd stick with Kevan Ohtsji or J.J. Perry
Reptile: Ray Park, Jon Valera, Keith Cooke, or Max Elliott Slade
Shang Tsung: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, James Hong (considering one of his roles influenced Tsung), or Sonny Chiba.
Goro (voice with/CGI body): Kieth David or Kevin Michael Richardson
Great Kung Lao: Donnie Yen or Jet Li
Young Shang Tsung:Jonson Phan or Rick Yune
Ermac*: Percy Spitfire Brown or Michael Treanor

* Ermac wouldn't appear until late in the film, maybe even until during the final battle against the main 7.
Though Sonya vs. Kano, Liu vs Johnny, Liu Kang vs Goro, Liu Kang vs Shang Tsung, Scorpion and Sub-Zero vs. Ermac, Reptile and Guards, & Scorpion vs Sub-Zero would be the most instense fights (pretty bloody too but not the bloodiest)....
I can't really think of a director who'd do it the I'd want it..

Liu Kang-Tony Jaa (Ong Bak movies)

Jax-Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje(Lost, GI Joe)

Bo Rai Cho-Sammo Hung hands down. (Gave serious thought to Zack Galifinakis lol)

Scorpion-Barry Pepper(True Grit, The kennedys)

Sub Zero-Jeremy Renner (The Town, Hurt Locker)

Kenshi-Ben Foster(30 Days of Night, The Mechanic)

Jade-Megan Good (Waist Deep)

Kitana-Evangeline Lilly(Hurt Locker, Kate from Lost)

Sindel-Jane Seymour(Medicine Woman,Wedding Crashers)

Baraka-Gary Busey (lol not really, would be kool fx/make up probly)

Tanya-Nick Minaj

Mileena-Christina Ricci (AfterLife, Addams Family)


That would be a goddamn movie

@Hellscorpion2: Hmm I like your idea about using the timeline from mythologies thru mk1...I think fusing those some how would be wicked. Your choices for actors I dont much agree with, but I like your ideas for Liu Kang, Shang and Kano. And Ryan Renolds for Johnny Cage is perfect lol.

I like the idea of basically revamping the first movies, because its really the crucial time period in the series, but I think actually starting out with a short mythologies thing, explaining origins and such would be a great way to delve deeply into the story right at the start, and then get to the ass kickery

If they made a big budget MK movie they would totally have to cast Robert Englund as Freddy

Kitana- Marielle Jaffe

Jade- Lauren London

Sindel- Lena Headey

Mileena- a heavily makeuped heavily digitally effected Marielle Jaffe

Google em, pretty much perfect selection for these four

all i can say is it would make the old movies look way bad mostly annihalation though.

Why does every live action MK production have to be so incredibly terrible? Like Scorp and Subs costumes really the best they could do in Legacy? I wish this would be taken serious sometime, but its MK..The cyborgs in the last episode looked amazing tho, wish everything else could be held to that standard.

@TheBigMistake
Truthfully for Scorpion and Sub-Zero, I wanted actors who had played ninjas before and could fight but also could appear hard weathered look/feel but also had similar stats (which is why I didn't just place Rain, Raizou of Ninja Assassin, as Scorpion and Jang Dong-gun, Sad Flute of The Warrior's Way, as Sub-Zero, they'd seem too different in stats) . Aside from the four I chose, I guess I'd have to go with Kane Kosugi or Mitsuki Koga as Scorpion and Jang Dong-gun or Jon Foo as Sub-Zero (with Rain as Liu), preferabley the formers. As for the actresses I chose for Sonya, I wanted someone beautiful and sexy but with could strike steely gaze and be powerful. For Reptile, I mainly wanted Ray Park, like the character he's agile and Reptile would sometimes evasively move like Ray Park's version of Toad in the X-Men film. For Goro, I felt Keith David and Kevin Michael Richardson were both qualified having heard them both as Spawn and Richardson as Goro but with Frank Welker doing some of the more inhuman sounds. Ermac, I again wanted someone who knew martial arts and had played a ninja, so I chose MKC's Rain or a former 3 Ninjas Actor that still practices martial arts. Raiden, I wanted someone tall and could off as nice but sorta to 'out there' to be human in terms of thinking. I also didn't really want characters who weren't in the first game in some way (Ermac earned a spot thanks to being a glitch), aside from giving Shao Kahn a cameo in the beginning or maybe after credits cameo with Quan Chi, Sareena, Kia, and Jataaka as he turns Sub-Zero's remains into Noob Saibot's body and begins creating Noob's soul. So in sense no Kitana, Jade, Baraka, Kung Lao, Jax (aside from maybe a radio call earlier in the film), etc. But for the DTD Mythologies film idea, I'd probably give Tundra/ Kuai Liang a small cameo, speaking with Sub-Zero. How did you feel about the mask (mouth part) Sub-Zero worn in legacy?

An MK movie?


My throw would be to make it strictly based on the MK1events, and in the spirit of MK1, which in fact was Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport together. Mostly Enter the Dragon, the Bloosport parts were cosmetic mostly.

Direction-wise I would make it a Rashomon/segmential blend. Let's say we have around 15 minutes clean for each character, which would make this 105 minutes of clear character time, add about another 20 for transitionary scenes. I would fix the lenght in about 2 hours give or take 10 minutes.

Make it character and fight based. By this I would mean that the movie would be made IN MEDIAS RES. Start at the island and take place in a time period which leads up to the result of the tournament. HOw they get there, backstory should not be bothered with...

...make that intrinsical to the interactions of the characters, have the audience realize that Kano did something to Sonya, Sub to Scorp etc. by using their own minds to put two and two together.

Oh yes, fuck preteen and teenager audience, if they lack the intelligence to puzzle together somehting as simple as the plot of MK, they might as well abort themselves from life. I am dead tired of movies spelling everything out for the dumbfucks who watch them, at the cost of art. In every conceivable way.


Also, what would we need is a strong cast: both in terms of acting ability and martial arts. This can be excused with the MK ninjas, I would say two actors for each. The primary cast should be the ten characters mostly involved, and even then I would make this movie differ from the original, as in: make it less G. I. Joe and something more than simple adolescent power fantasy and witless portrayal of cross-cultural elements.

Sonya Blade: loosen the sex appeal. Sonya's appeal should not come from looking like a supermodel. Pick an average but sporty looking woman for the role. Sonya should be appealing rfom personality, and not by look and skimp. Make her properly military to the core, as in real life disciplined soldiers tend to be.

Sub-Zero: have him be around more than Scorpion, talk minimally and be a presence unto him/itself. What the first movie did was to show his wiling part in killing competitors, this should be emphasized. The showdown with Scorpion should be a ninja battle, as in, assassination not a boxing match. Stealth, a cat and mouse game with brief confrontations in silence. An assassin does not want to fight elongated battles. Sub-Zero's death should be a quick one move ambush which HAVE TO BE a stinger in three aspects:
1. irrevocably lethal to Subs.
2. shows off their ninja/assassin competence as in coming from the shadows (their match would be a battle of wits, akin to a sniper duel)
3. once mortally wounded we could have Scoprion do his toasty to showcase his supernatural identity.

The key would be to have the audience be on the tip of their toes, and avoid as much the classic martial arts duel. They are assassins, they kill not fight. These are the principles of Ninjutsu, and basically everywhere else, even in knightly manuscripts of fencing the one hit deathblow is the ideal solution. Not enlenghtened fighting. So make it eventless, but make the little events that count REALLY count.

Scorpion: I would use him very sparsely, as background character even, popping up unfocused upon in the background, make the audience notice him from their own effort and piece by piece realize he is 1. not human, then 2. out to kill. 3. Sub-Zero.

Kano: I am less impressed with the slob Australian personality by the years. My Kano would duly be properly physically intimidating, towering even, but act differently. He should be a straightforward brutal guy, who could meanwhile have composure, can remain silent and could plot, hell he even could be running a civil front as the MK tournament would just look at first as a regular underground tourney, only the most skilled would be shipped off to the Lost Sea.

Raiden: Japanese, no mentor stuff. We have enough of the Yoda syndrome, not everyone, especially those trained for a specific purpose throughout their lives need mentors to watch over them. Raiden needs to be completely repurposed.

My ideal solution would be that Raiden should be as Raijin, the demon god of thunder. Like in MK1 make him an arrogant competitor who opposes Tsung and the Outworld forces due to the following reasons:
Earth is their place, the mortals are serfs to the gods (not that they would act as one, but let's say Raiden and the gods don't show to or meddle with the mortals. They are just superior to them).

As a compromise it would make good character development as Raiden could technically grow to respect the mortals due to their fighting prowess and the fact thar they are invaluable. So not a mentor thankfully but perhaps as some sort of "boss" to the core three. Raiden would want to defend the home of the gods and Earth.

I think it would be good to show him as overagressive and overconfident, his powers may massively outweight the others, but imo I would allow him to be defeated through martial arts, rather than sorcery.

@chrome, you left out that the first game was also based on Big Trouble in Little China (and allegedly T2 in the case of Kano's appearance.) As for your idea of Scorpion and Sub-Zero's battle, it just seems sort of odd...I mean the reason they fight they do or are portrayed the way they are is because they're based on Sho Kosugi's films (particularly the "Ninja" trilogy) and various other films of the 80s ninja craze. I mean parts of the films play out similar to the battle you described, aside from the final battle of the films...

Wow sry guys havent been on in a few...but these are good thoughts. Already more thought put into this thread than all live action MK productions combined lol..Ima give this stuff a good read thru...

Did you really just type, Nicki Minaj???...
Anyway On Topic: I Would make my movie Animated... Give the project to the dude who made the Dante's Inferno Animated Movie, and it most likely wont disappoint...

Gemma Arteton and I'll be sastisfied.

Gemma Arterton would be a good Kitana also. Shes beautiful and she has that mesmerizing voice.

I really think Marielle Jaffe has that exotic look that would be perfect for Kitana though.

if johnny is played by ryan reynolds then I'm happy

Hm, if I could make a MK movie the characters and actors I would like to be in the movie are:
Liu Kang - Tony Jaa
Kung Lao - Jay Chou
Kano - Jason Statham
Sonya Blade - Ali Larter or Uma Thurman
Johnny Cage - Christian Bale or Ryan Reynolds. Y'know what, Ryan Reynolds.
Jax - Michael Jai White... Really wouln't mind seeing him continue his role.
Scorpion - Ian Anthony Dale... same goes for him.
Sub-Zero - James Kyson Lee or Ken Leung
Shang Tsung - Daniel Dae Kim or even Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa considering Shang starts off old in MK and let's be honest, Tagawa's not young anymore, but still fit enough to pull of some fighting choreography. Daniel Dea Kim could probably play young Shang in the sequel.
Cyrax - Lateef Crowder
Sektor - Daniel Henney
Kitana and Mileena - Moon Bloodgood or Lucy Liu. Either one of them could play either Kitana or Mileena. Preferably Moon as Kitana and Lucy as Mileena. Not the Lucy isn't pretty or anything, she just seems to fit a villainous role more.
Jade - Honestly can't think of an actress for her. Possibly find someone who's skilled with a bo staff? Jamie Chung? Eh... Devon Aoki? Kristin Kreuk? ....o.o Moving on.
Raiden - Tim Kang
Shao Kahn (small cameo at the end of the movie/sequels) - I... I honestly don't know. I can't really think of anyone who could play him at the moment. Any ideas?
For the story, I kind of would like it to be based off the new storyline. Instead of actually seeing scenes of Armageddon at the beginning of the movie, instead just have Raiden suddenly start to see the visions as the tournament begins. It'll be better than going off the original storyline, make seven movies based off of each game, only to start over again because Shao Kahn kills everyone and the realms are f*cked. But hey, that's just my opinion.
Important fight scenes need to take place like Sonya and Jax against Kano, brutal fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, Kitana against Liu Kang, Cyrax against Sektor, Liu Kang against Goro and obviously, Liu Kang against Shang Tsung.
Important moments need to take place like Raiden having the visions, Johnny Cage meeting Sonya for the first time, Liu Kang, Sonya and Johnny meeting together for the first time, Sonya saving Jax, Liu Kang meeting Kitana, Kung Lao appearing in the tournament, Scorpion hunting for Sub-Zero, Quan Chi lying to Scorpion about the death of his clan, thus Scropion killing Sub-Zero, Raiden confronting Cyrax about the Lin Quei's participation in the tournament, Liu Kang NOT killing Shang Tsung, only making him forfeit, and Shao Kahn about to go ape shit on Shang right before Shang tells him that he has an idea about how he could conquer Earthrealm (end of the movie, possibly cliffhanger).
As for the score of the movie (background music for those who don't know what that means), I'm thinking it should be both "oriental" and still have that upbeat "rock" type feel. Dunno who could actually do this. Any suggestions?
That's all I'm focusing on at the moment lol. I think I covered enough... A lot actually. Anyway, what do you think. Anymore ideas?

My film would be similar to HELLSCORPION's (see my MK movie script I posted in the Fan Sub forum for further reference ):

I would do 3 separate trilogies:

MK Mythologies Trilogy:

MKM: The Great Kung Lao

MKM: Shang Tsung

MKM: Sub-Zero

The Original Trilogy:

MK1

MK2

MK3

and the Sequel Trilogy:

MK4 (probably with some sort of subtitle to even things out)

MK: A Deadly Alliance

MK: Deception

**note: the sequel trilogy will not directly follow the game's stories but, will use many elements from those game's.

KASTING:

Rain as Liu Kang

Ryan Reynolds as Johnny Cage

Ali Carter as Sonya Blade

Gerard Butler as Kano

Ian Anthony Dale as Scorpion

Kevin Ohtsji as Sub-Zero

Doug Jones as Reptile

Russell Wong as Kung Lao

Dustin Nguyen as the Great Kung Lao

Jason Scott Lee as Shang Tsung

Linus Roache as Quan Chi

Christopher Meloni, Nicholas Cage, or John Slattery as Raiden

Micheal Jai White as Major Jax Briggs

Edward Norton as Kurtis Stryker

Lily Collins would also make a really good Kitana

I would use some MK4+ characters in the movie who have never been used in live action before like: Tanya, Kenshi, Bo'rai Cho, Kira etc and make it about Mortal Kombat but with a new cool story where Quan Chi is the main villain and I'd make it dark with more violence for ratings and a darker- more serious atmosphere but still keep the game costumes from MK9 and retain the Fantasy and special power moves as I believe dark and fantasy are a perfect combination, I't throw in a small part for a brand new character that would be a super hidden fighter in MK10 :)