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 did not perform well at the box office. It made just $129 million (total-to-date) from a budget of $80 million – a huge disappointment for everyone involved. It’s genuinely shocking considering how big this franchise is. It was delayed for months because it was set up to be a huge winner. But that never happened.
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 Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, Hiroyuki Sanada’s Scorpion and Joe Taslim’s Sub-Zero (Noob Saibot) 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 64% 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, continued 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.
And so, 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 like 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.
The new trailer delivers on everything fans loved about the games – it’s over-the-top and fun. If the previous films didn’t convince you, this one definitely will. It gives us the best look at all the characters, including Jason Momoa’s Blanka. And yeah, he looks good.
Right now, the Mortal Kombat franchise 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.
Mortal Kombat is stuck in the corner of the box office arena, waiting for the continue screen (which might not happen now, after that huge disaster). But the fighting game movie wars have only just begun. And based on this new trailer, Street Fighter is about to KO every other fighting flick in 2026.
RELATED: Mortal Kombat 2’s Only Real Casualty Is the One Character Fans Don’t Actually Care About
