Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
After 3 years of Kombat,I've decided to move on to other creative opportunities. I wish everyone involved in the movie big success. Thanks!
— Kevin Tancharoen (@KTANCH) October 25, 2013
With that, FAME director Kevin Tancharoen is officially off the MORTAL KOMBAT movie that he, himself, set into motion with that concept piece a few years back. We sort of knew something like this would happen when Warner, instead of greenlighting a theatrical film, assigned Tancharoen to the web-series MORTAL KOMBAT LEGACY, which recently premiered its second season on Machinima. No word on whether any of the actors that popped up in the short or the web series (Michael Jai White, Jeri Ryan, Casper Van Dien, Mark Dacascos, not to mention Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung) will stay attached to any future MK movie, but my guess is they'll all be replaced if the project ever comes together.
No word yet as to what prompted this development, but I have to admit that the web-series kinda failed to live up to the potential of the initial REBIRTH short, particularly in this last season. The production values, fight scenes, and intensity of that short was pretty much tossed aside for what felt more like a by-the-numbers marketing companion to the video game series than anything else. While it's hard to deny Tancharoen's enthusiasm for the material, it's not a huge shocker that his dark, broody vision for the franchise did not inspire Warner Bros. to drop $50 million+ on his reboot. Even though they've dismissed the dude who's spearheaded the live-action incarnation of the franchise for the past three years, I hope they haven't given up all plans for another MK movie altogether. The franchise can't end with ANNIHILATION. It just can't.
Who knows, maybe they'll dust off old McWeeny's draft he wrote with Scott Swan all those moons ago?
-Vincent Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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