All Articles: Mortal Kombat

Tahmoh Penikett may not be a household name, but if you’re a fan of science fiction you’re no doubt familiar with some of his most famous roles including Helo on “Battlestar Galactica” and FBI agent Paul Ballard on “Dollhouse.”

According to an exclusive IGN report, Penikett will take his ass-kicking ways to the currently shooting Mortal Kombat: Rebirth webisodes as riot cop Kurtis Stryker. Stryker is known as the black sheep of the Mortal Kombat family, but Penikett’s experience filming fight scenes for Joss Whedon on “Dollhouse” may give the character a newfound respect.

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth will be released digitally this Spring, sometime around the launch of the Mortal Kombat reboot on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

If you’ve been following the upcoming webisodes accompanying the new Mortal Kombat, you’ll know part of what made Kevin Tancharoen’s pitch video so great was the awesome cast. You’ll be pleased to know that Jeri Ryan and Ian Anthony Dale from the original pitch will be reprising the roles of Sonya Blade and Scorpion, respectively (we hope). Ryan and Dale both confirmed it via Twitter, and seem to be just as enthusiastic about the project as we are. WB Games had previously confirmed that the awesome Michael Jai White will return as Jackson “Jax” Briggs, who seemed to be the potential protagonist of the trailer. This means that all three main actors from the Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film have signed on for the upcoming webisodes.

Also, Jeri Ryan was allegedly on her way to the farmer’s market with “the hubs” when she broke the good news.

The first Mortal Kombat film has gone down as one of the great popcorn movies of the 1990’s while the sequel Mortal Kombat Annihilation was pretty horrible. Tancharoen’s vision seems to be more adult than either; let’s hope it translates into some great content to go with Mortal Kombat when it launches April 19, 2011 in the U.S. for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (though European gamers get it a day earlier) .

Director Kevin Tancharoen recently sat down with Gamasutra and revealed that his awesome Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film caught the public’s attention by accident.

“I am not the most technically savvy YouTube person. What came out wasn’t the final product in my mind. I wasn’t done yet,” he told the industry blog. “It was still in its rough phase, but I couldn’t send a 2GB file over email, so my friend said I could create a private page on YouTube and sent it to him to review. It turns out it wasn’t that private.”

The interview also confirms that the web series will be spread out over nine episodes, instead of the previously announced ten, and that they will be between seven and ten minutes long (totalling a feature length running time of 63-90 minutes). All of the actors from Rebirth are currently in negotations to reprise their roles including Michael Jai White (Jax), Jeri Ryan (Sonya Blade) and Ian Anthony Dale (Scorpion).

Tancharoen is not alone in building the Rebirth universe as Mortal Kombat creator Ed Book is working very closely with the director. “We’re working together hand in hand, Tancharoen said. “I’ve got to admit, I had a little fanboy geek moment when I met him. I flashed back to when I was 12 or 13 and played the first game and was obsessed with it. He was very, very happy with the short. He knows it took liberties with the universe of Mortal Kombat, but was okay with that. It blows my mind.”

Filming on Mortal Kombat: Rebirth will begin in February with a “Spring” release planned on digital download services.

If you were amazed by the pitch video by Kevin Tancharoen attempting to sell the idea of a new Mortal Kombat movie (see above), you’re in luck. If you weren’t, there’s something wrong with you. Today Warner Premiere officially announced they would be taking on Tancharoen as director for a digital live action mini-series exploring the background of some of MK’s most prolific characters, such as Scorpion, Johnny Cage, and Liu Kang. The original video contained more realistic back stories for fantastical characters like Scorpion and Reptile, and focused on these and other MK villains terrorizing “Deacon City.” It’s not clear if this will continue the concept or cast of the original video, but in any case you can be this project in some very passionate, capable hands.

While the first Mortal Kombat movie (and theme song) has enjoyed cult classic status, the second was seen as a major embarrassment for fans of the series. But with a killer game returning to the series roots on April 19th and a series helmed by someone with a vision like Tancharoen, 2011 could be one of the best years yet for the series.

Warner Premiere revealed that the ten-part anthology series will be available through “digital online retailers” this Spring.