Bruce Dias 
Kombat is one of the most iconic names in video gaming history. And fans of the franchise received a major boost when the series was rebooted as a movie series in 2021. Recent casting news for the sequel in the newest version of the franchise has set the internet alight and, of course, boosted participation numbers in Esports Mortal Kombat events.
Blockbuster Original
Riding the wave of initial fame generated by the video game, Mortal Kombat was first released as a movie in 1995 and featured such high-profile stars as Christopher Lambert as Lord Raidan. The 1995 version of the movie may not have been best received by critics, but it helped cement the franchise as a 1990s cultural phenomenon. The decade saw Kombat fever sweep the globe. The release of the 1992 video game launched a media franchise that surpassed any other fighting game, and spawned games, movies and a whole host of franchise-related media products.
2021 Movie A Welcome Return
April 2021 saw the release of the first Mortal Kombat movie in almost three decades. 2021 was a watershed year as the martial arts franchise was rebooted by Simon McQuoid. It featured Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, with Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin and Tadanobu Asano also starring as Jax, Liu Kang and Raidan respectively, much-loved fighters from the original series. The movie received a positive reaction, and producers were commissioned to make a sequel, which is set for release later in 2025.
Indeed, star Taslim has admitted that he has been contracted for a further four instalments of the franchise after the original 2021 release, although this will depend on the performance of the sequel. If the first movie in the rebooted franchise is anything to go by, those subsequent sequels look odds on: Mortal Kombat is reported to have grossed an impressive worldwide total of more than $84m.
The sequel will focus on the exploits of Mortal Kombat favorite Johnny Cage, an action film star who also specializes in martial arts. Cage was a much-loved character from the original 1992 video game and will be played in the modern movie sequel by Karl Urban.
Mortal Kombat Esports Competitions
As well as becoming (once again) a much-loved movie franchise, since its 1990s heyday, Mortal Kombat has developed into a huge, global Esports competition. With regular competitions, as a fighting series it punches alongside other favorites including Street Fighter and Tekken, and is often featured as a sports betting experience, such as with most of the sites featured in a list of UK online casinos. The game has established a presence in events such as the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) as well as the Mortal Kombat Pro Series becoming a fighting game fixture since the release of the popular Mortal Kombat 9 version of the popular video game back in 2011.
2024 Highlight
The highlight of the 2024 Mortal Kombat Esport calendar was the Evolution Championship Series 2024. Although falling short of Street Fighter as well as Mortal Kombat viewership numbers for 2024, the grand final between SonicFox and Nicolas still attracted an impressive audience of more than 83,000 concurrent viewers.
And as a non-Japanese developed game, one of a rare few, Mortal Kombat saw its popularity hold among both English and Portuguese speakers – the game is particularly popular in Brazil. The slight decrease in popularity may be attributed to the gaming event moving from the popular Mortal Kombat 11 to the rebooted Mortal Kombat 1 version.
But with the release of the new movie Mortal Kombat 2 in the franchise series, we can surely expect to see an upsurge in the Esports participation and viewing figures.
