Mortal Kombat Film in the Works?

The history of video-game-to-movie adaptations is littered with casualties. There’s Super Mario Bros., Resident Evil and the newest in a reach for new source material, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. In 1995, the original Mortal Kombat movie surfaced with kitschy costumes taken directly from the popular fighting game and a plot that revolved around a fighting tournament (really, what else can you do with a game whose main focus is beating the snot out of each other?)

Yesterday, a gritty, urban, cop-drama-esque trailer for a revived and revamped Mortal Kombat hit the Internet. The seven-minute trailer depicts a grotesque Reptile, a man born with a terrible birth defect; a manic Baraka, a doctor who surgically altered his own body; the classically good-looking and classically-pummelled Johnny Cage and a handful of other characters from the game franchise.

There was some speculation as to whether the live-action trailer, which has a fairly high production value, was for a future game or a movie remake that Warner Bros. has been discussing. Jeri Ryan, the actress who plays Sonya Blade in the video, confirmed on her Twitter that it was a pitch for the studio.

“It’s not a game trailer. Actually was made for the director to sell WB on his vision for a reimagined MK film,” she wrote. “I did it as a favor to a friend. No idea yet what WB’s reaction to it was.”

Watch the trailer below:

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