Mortal Kombat movie director reportedly signs up to helm sequel

Following January’s news that New Line Cinema is working on a sequel to last year’s commercially successful Mortal Kombat movie reboot, Deadline reports that project’s director, Simon McQuoid, will return to the helm for part two.

Last year’s movie followed the adventures of Cole Young, a former professional MMA fighter – and a new character to the series – who becomes ensnared in a plot by sorcerer Shang Tsung to eliminate the new generation of Earthrealm’s Mortal Kombat champions. Despite the return of plenty of familiar faces, and a strong opening fight (which you can see below), Eurogamer’s resident Mortal Kombat fan Wesley Yin-Poole wasn’t overly impressed by the end result.

Yet despite a generally lacklustre critical reception, the Mortal Kombat movie apparently did big numbers for New Line, opening at No. 1 at the US box office and ranking among the all-time top feature titles on HBO Max, where it simultaneously released. A sequel was almost inevitable then, and New Line confirmed its plans for a follow-up in January this year.