I think there's a thread like this buried in the MK Media forum. So I'm going to say the same thing here that I said there; That would be badass if they made a quality animated MK movie.

I feel the same way about the idea as I do about a live action movie.

Mortal Kombat plots are too long and have too many characters to fit into a film properly. Look at what happened in the first film, they had to cheat the plot and have Johnny Cage be all "Fuck tournament brackets, I wanna fight Goro now," and completely erased Scorpion and Sub-Zero's personalities, making them henchmen, because they didn't have enough screentime to explain their rivalry.

And then the second one...well, its crimes are too many to list, but one of the big ones was constantly throwing characters on screen but not telling who they are or what they want, just assuming "the audience has played the game, they'll appreciate the cameo."

If you're gonna do animation in the first place, why not make a whole series? That way you can spend a full season on each tournament and not rush through the matches and character introductions.

I wouldn't be opposed to a series, but I think an animated film is a realistic possibility, and I do think a good writer could figure something out. By keeping the first film to the first game's story it means it's not as complex and there are less characters to develop. Not to mention characters like Reptile, Goro, Shang, Raiden and maybe Sub-zero don't need as much development.

Part of the problem with the first film was it combined MK1 and MK2, and the sequel combined MK2 and MK3. There are a lot of characters and plot points just from one game so combining two is way too much crap.

I do think a series live action or animated would be really cool and the best option, but I don't see it happening. Because you are right about developing characters and sub-plots that are hard to execute in one film. Having a film about Lui Kang only would be easy, but to also show Sonya's role and Scorpions role in the tournament is nearly impossible to pull off without enough screen time.

This is why I think that MK would be a good choice for an anime. Usually short series with twelve episodes can tell a storyline in it's entirety. With 30 to 45 minute episodes.


Twelve episodes for MK1 is more than enough. Maybe another series can deal with Mk2 and then MK3 if it is really successful. Beyond that there is no reason to contnue as good as MKDA and MKD might be.

There is simply no point and value.

Wow, you said something positive for a whole half a post! That's gotta be a new record. I was even almost surprised when you pulled the swerve and turned into your normal negative self again at the end there.
I am intrigued though since you even said "As good as MKDA and MKD might be"...which implies you think the stories DO have merit...so WHY is there no "point and value" to telling a good story in cartoon form? Since when does entertainment HAVE a "point and value" beyond being entertaining, anyway? It's not like cartoonists are out to cure cancer and everything they make that doesn't cure cancer is a waste of their precious time. It's just cartoons. And if you're adapting a series, why NOT adapt the whole thing? Why end in the middle?

Make each animated film focus on a single character instead of trying to be all inclusive

Why? WB's DC universe shows like Batman the Animated Series and JLU are incredibly well-written and produced, and their direct to video offerings are even bloody and violent.

Not as much as they'd need to be to show Fatalities, perhaps, but nobody ever DOES fatalities in the actual PLOT of the games anyway except Scorpion and Sub-Zero to each other and there are camera tricks like panning away at the last second or showing shadows on the wall, lots of ways to depict a death in PG-13.
Plus it was WB who produced the anime anthologies The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, so if anybody can get Japanese creators to work on an American franchise, it's them.

Well, first off, if I can recall, the majority of Japan frowns upon Mortal Kombat, and even if they didn't, it wouldn't do any good for any MK creation to be worked on via anime.

Second, The Justice League sucks! But in all honesty, I was really never into DC. Anyhoo,

Thrid, I am sick and tired of Mortal Kombat having PG-13 shit! If Red Pyramid can rip off some irritating chick's skin, Sub-Zero can rip out somebody's spinal cord.

Fourth, when it comes to Mortal Kombat, Warner Bros. is good for one thing and one thing only: money. The intros to the MK games - post MK4 - have all kicked ass, and for the most part, great graphics too. All Warner Bros. need to do poop out enough money to stretch a four minute intro into a 90 minute movie.

POOF! There's your animated film.

Hrmm. Well...you don't seem to know enough about the animation industry for this conversation.

Suffice it to say, making things R-Rated, especially animation, is NOT easy to convince executives to do. Direct-to-Video films don't sell very well as it is, and making something Rated R only makes the audience that's allowed to buy it even smaller.

Resident Evil got away with an R-rated CG movie, but they're the only game franchise I know of so far who's done so.

Even Halo Legends was PG-13. (That one was produced by Warner Bros. too, as a matter of fact, so there's another example of how they'll handle it if they ever make a direct to video MK cartoon or CGI project.)

Okay, I stopped reading at the Resident Evil section, and here's why.

There are FOUR Resident Evil films that hit theaters. They were all rated R, and they all did well at the box office.

The Silent Hill film was also rated R, it too was released in theaters and did well at the box office.

Now, in the case of an R-rated animated film, with the excessive amounts of blood and gore that exist within animated television shows marketed for adults (i.e. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Drawn Together, just to name a few), I find it very difficult to believe that creating an R-rated feature length animated film is improbable. Furthermore, the existance of animated gore in films is nothing new. Even in the film, Kill Bill, there was quite a long animated scene that involved shot off limbs, sword penetration, skull bashing, and more. This particular scene was very well done, and if stretched, could have passed as an R-rated animated film, even in theaters.

It's not convincing that's the issue, it's skill. Many film makers do not have enough skill to create a decent R-rated animated film, and thus the idea is continuously denied. but I promise you this.

One day, someone is going to do it, it's going to get in theaters, and it will sell. Very well.

Simpsons and Family guy are gory? A little. But it is too cartoony and that isn't a big part of their show.

Film makers don't posses the skill to add gore? It's not hard to add blood and gore to a film. What is hard is getting it out to the public. I'm guessing that the target audience for an animated Mortal Kombat is 8-12. That means they need to cut back on gore to sell it to that audience. The challenge is getting WB to produce an R rated animated film and that is a big gamble from their perspective.

I think WB does have a good team to make MK animated. Have you seen "Batman Under the Red Hood"? Its dark, slick, and just plain bad ass. I actually liked it better than "Mask of the Phantasm". WB's animated team could make the writing and the animation great, and if the executives let them they could make gore look good. You act like me and Razor are saying that it is impossible to make it gory. When in fact where saying it is improbable, because of the restraints placed on their animated films.

All I'm saying is that there is a good probability an R-rated animated film can achieve success in theaters.

It just takes good writing, great sequence, and relevance to the gore.

And in all honesty, these days I don't know too many people under the age of 16 who play Mortal Kombat. The millions of children who started out playing the games are now adults, and they're the same ones playing them now. Also, Ed Boon is not going to market an R-rated film towards minors, because he doesn't believe minors should watch R-rated films or playing M-rated games. He mentioned this in an interview about Mortal Kombat Armgaeddon.

Instead of just refusing to conceive the idea, just think about it for a bit.

I'm not sure why you brought up live action.

When I said Resident Evil, I was referring to RE: Degeneration. Perhaps you never heard of it. It's a CGI animated film (y'know, like Final Fantasy: Advent Children) that came out a year or two ago. It's canon with the games and it's about Leon and Claire fighting zombies in an airport.

Capcom made it themselves and Sony Pictures released it. I brought it up because it's the only animated R-rated game adaptation there's been yet. And note that Sony is not WB.

WB owns Mortal Kombat. So no matter what, WB is the ones who get to decide whether or not any MK related cartoon or CGI will have an R rating, and they haven't done R-rated animation for any other game they've adapted. So that's what the reality is.

And you can forget about theaters. They make these things straight to home video. That's simply the way the industry does it. Adaptations are not treated the way major animated films like from Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks are, because the audience for them is smaller.

Like I said, you don't seem to know enough about the animation industry to make the argument you're trying to make.

- MK1-3 is basically a complete story. Kahn gets dethroned Earth is saved from imminent invasion. MK4 basically pulled out a story that is retroactive in it's roots. The only familiarity they would have is with the characters.

- this is not a cash-cow franchise like Naruto, DBZ, NGE, or by western standards Transformers, Batman, Justice League, Scooby Doo (THE longest running basically without interruptions for 40+ years). MK cannot be outstretched to such lenghts, and as said, from Kahn on, the concept gets put on an entirely different premise. That is risky, and would basically make sense or be standard stuff to those who KNOW MK. Which is by itself a very small amount of people.

- Obligations and contracts for animators have time frames. Plus, the show animators would tire. Case in point, Naruto had at least 14 different animation crews throughout the animated series. It is highly probable that art shifts would highly infuence ratings, and MK i.m.h.o. seriously needs to be cautious with it's artistic design. MK:DOTR and shonen anime styles are not working. The people who did Shigurui would pull it off nicely, but that kind of work is CUMBERSOME.

Basically it cannot expand into an evergrowing series, as it would anchor the people working on it.

-Rather tell a story well, then include everything for the sake of entirety.

Okay, I've gotta hand it to you for once, Chrome, you actually raise some pretty solid points there.

It would be more realistic given the way these things work to expect a three season show or three movie series or what have you that covers the Shao Kahn Trilogy from beginning to end and then doesn't get picked up for more seasons or sequels, 'cause the main plot has ended.

But the way I see it, a properly done animated MK series is a pipe dream in the first place so why not dream big and shoot for the whole five+ season fantasy, or perhaps a "from Justice League to JLU"-style rebranding of the series after Kahn's defeat.

Just because I don't tell you what you already know, or what you want to hear, doesn't mean I don't know enough.

And btw, I know very well about Resident Evil: Degeneration, as well as Advent Children, which I've seen (and loved).

My post was directed towards both live-action and animated R-rated video game based films to point a continuing sequence of [impending] success. You may feel my doing so was pointless, but that's on you.

Also, it seems you take my optimism as a sign that I am ignorant of the knowledge of the animation industry. I hope that is not the case. Once again, allow me to inform you that good film making and direction can - and one day will - make a decent adapted animated film sell well in theaters.

It seems that you are so use to the commonality of the selling of such films that you refuse to imagine anything on the contrary. I beg you to see outside the box. It is possible. It is probable.

Please, try to see this from a perception other than your own.

I just think using facts, y'know, studying history and studio practices, to form your point of view on a subject like this is far wiser and more accurate than wishing and hoping blindly.

It's not about blind hopes, but the evolution of technology and skill.

Your facts and studies of the past and present repel you from seeing anything different in the future.

You can't possibly believe full-heartedly, that despite the evergrowing improvements within the industry, neither an R-rated animated film, nor and adapted animated film, could ever be successful in theaters.

In no way am I trying to stir up animosity, but from my view you're being very stubborn.

The evolution of tech and skill has nothing to do with it. They could make a great animated film right now, and they could have made a great one a decade ago.

Of course it is possible for an R rated animated film to make it into theaters but it is very unlikely. And for some reason you think there is some connection with tech and skill that will help move that forward. When really it is about the market that will decided if an animated MK will make it into theaters. If there is a high demand for MK and animation then WB would have an incentive to make an R rated animated MK to hit theaters. In case you haven't noticed there are a lot of variables to account for to make it happen.

i think make it mk shorts like dc shorts..each roughly 10 min cartoon is about a character..how they came about/what their story is etc. and then release the whole mk shorts as a mk shorts: kollection

Maybe. Only if they do a full length animated MK. I think superhero fans should see superhero shorts, and MK fans should get MK shorts with their movie. Other than that it wold be cool.

I think it would be really cool if they made an 80 minute animated film that explains the plot of the first game only. It should also have gore on par with dead space downfall and dantes inferno. Then they should make a 12 minute Scorpion and Sub-zero backstory as a short at the begining. It should be a self contained story that does have a connection to the main movie. So that way there will be a short and a normal length animated film just like the recent WB animated films, but the two will connect so it will actually be like a 92 minute animated film. However, the whole point of the shorts is to promote lesser known characters without dedicating a whole movie so i doubt they would do that.

I won't mind see a series of OVA's (Original Video Animations) of Mortal Kombat. If it has the dark tone and over the top violence similar to the Devilman OVA's then I will check it out. I always wonder why no one ever try to make a MK anime series for once?

I would rather have 30 minute mini-movies that focused on individual characters. Considering how many characters there are, that would be one hell of a job. Not bios per-say, but just an adventure with the character. For example, one film could be based on Sonya and one of her trips trying to hunt down the Black Dragon but ends up dealing with the Red Dragon, but doesn't even know it (pre MK-DA storyline). Another could be on Reptile on a mission for Kahn. A failed attempt on Shang Tsung's part to topple Kahn's rule and the results. Even Stryker, while trying to clear an area during riot finds out that it was actually caused by someone or something from Oulworld or the Netherrealm.