In April, fans were at our throats when we posted on Facebook that the Street Fighter reboot movie already looked better than Mortal Kombat II. The comments section turned into a cage match with many declaring their undying love for the Karl Urban film. “Street Fighter is for teenage boys, MK for don legends,” one person wrote. “Looks better than Mortal Kombat, yeah right,” another responded sarcastically. But as it turns out, defending the film online in comment sections and actually buying a movie ticket to see it at the theater are two very different things.
Mortal Kombat II is not off to a good start at the box office. It opened to $63 million worldwide this weekend. And while that sounds pretty decent, when you look a little closer at the numbers, it reveals that $40 million was domestic, and a weak $23 million came from international markets. That second amount is shocking considering how big this franchise is. Actually, its international gross is just 36.5% of its global total, compared to 49.9% for the first film. That’s probably a strong indication that the sequel is underperforming abroad.
And when you consider that the movie reportedly cost $80 million before marketing, and that studios don’t pocket every cent from ticket sales, Warner Bros. probably needs somewhere near $200 million worldwide to claim a flawless victory.
Instead, Mortal Kombat II got punched straight in the face by The Devil Wears Prada 2. Miranda Priestly’s stilettos and handbags brought more people to movie theaters than Johnny Cage, Scorpion and Sub-Zero did.
What makes this news even sadder is that Mortal Kombat II actually improved in certain areas (well, mainly the fight sequences). Critics even gave it a surprising 65% Rotten Tomatoes score, up from the 2021 film’s 55% – even though many of the reviews weren’t too kind. But those scores were not enough to convince audiences and fans to actually buy tickets, it seems.
At the same time, another video game movie, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, continues to march towards a billion dollars at the box office. It’s been a big time for video game movies over the last few years. The Minecraft Movie and the Sonic films did really well, too. But Mortal Kombat II feels trapped serving only hardcore fans yelling “Finish him!” on Facebook.
At the same time, eyes are already shifting to the Street Fighter reboot arriving on October 16, 2026. With a crazy big cast that includes Jason Momoa, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and 50 Cent, it looks the goofier of the two films for sure. But maybe that’s what fans want from their fighting game movies. They want to see Ken beating up a car and Jason Momoa’s Blanka electrifying an audience.
Right now, though, Mortal Kombat II isn’t winning this fight. And this feels a lot like the whole DC versus Marvel thing all over again. One group of fans who want campy action buys all the tickets, while those who like their characters darker and more cinematic stay home and wait for the VOD release.
Right now, Mortal Kombat II is stuck in the corner of the box office arena, waiting for the continue screen. But the fighting game movie wars have only just begun.
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