Mortal Kombat II was released over the weekend to the best reviews of the IP’s movie franchise (65 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), a solid audience score on the aggregator site (89 percent), and a franchise-best opening weekend at the box office. For an R-rated series that has always felt a bit niche, given its popularity, a $38.5 million domestic opening (down from the reported $40 million reported on Sunday) and a $60 million global start seems like an appropriate debut for a film carrying a relatively slim $80 million budget.
However, given the fact that projections had the film potentially debuting between $45-50 million+ and the bold move of shifting the sequel from October of last year to a its current spot in May that tradionally kicks off the summer movie season, some fans are worried that a potential steep fall in weekend two and beyond could spell trouble for the IP as it becomes a more crowded marketplace.
It should be noted that despite the immense sales of the Mortal Kombat games over the years, the movie IP has never been a HUGE moneymaker. The 1995 film, largely regarded as the first truly successful video game movie adaptation, grossed $70.4 million domestically and $122.1 million worldwide, which still makes it the highest-grossing film of the franchise. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, released in 1997 to poor critical and box office reception, was down considerably at $35.9 million domestic and $51.3 million worldwide.
The IP, as a big-screen franchise, lay dormant until the 2021 reboot was released and had to deal with movie theaters trying to rebuild from the pandemic. Considering the odds stacked against it, its $42.3 million domestic finish and $84.4 million global haul on a $55 million budget were deemed a success. Adding to its success was that the film was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, with its debut on the streamer becoming their most successful movie launch to date.
Mortal Kombat II entered the ring with far greater confidence than its predecessor. The creatives knew they were bringing in fan-favorites such as Johnny Cage and Kitana into the fold, and they were going to give the fans the movie they absolutely wanted following some complaints leveled at the first film. The red band trailer released in July 2025 broke records at the time with 106.8, million views worldwide in its first 24 hours, making it the most-viewed red-band trailer ever. Perhaps this is why Warner Bros. felt confident, along with positive test screenings, to move the film from its October 24, 2025 release date to its eventual date on May 8.
Some speculate it was to give more time for visual effects in post-production, but insiders suggested that Warner Bros. felt confident that the film could be a summer movie contender. Given the film’s reception by fans and even some critics, that confidence was warranted, but there are signs that perhaps the film would’ve played better during its original release date.
After Mortal Kombat II vacated its release date, what looked to be a decent October at the box office practically became a ghost town. There’s no doubt that the sequel would’ve finished number one that weekend and may have even cleared the projections it was hinting at ahead of this last weekend.
The musical biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere and the Colleen Hoover adaptation Regretting You opened over the October weekend, along with the U.S. debut of the Japanese animated Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. Chainsaw Man and Regretting You performed admirably, as did the holdover performance from Black Phone 2, but the absence of Mortal Kombat II was certainly felt. The following October weekend, which fell over Halloween, became the lowest-grossing October in 27 years. Even if Mortal Kombat II took a considerable dip, it could’ve helped stem the bleeding.
Instead, Mortal Kombat II opened on the global stage during the third weekend ofMichael, which has become a worldwide box office phenomenon, and during the second weekend of The Devil Wears Prada 2, a legacy sequel that shows once again that women know how to turn films into events. The Devil Wears Prada 2 held well in its second weekend, grossing $41.6 million to finish first for the second frame in a row, thanks largely to Saturday and Mother’s Day seeing a surge, while Mortal Kombat II settled for second with $38.5 million and nearly lost that battle to the third weekend of Michael which held very well with $37.9 million.
Sure, these films are fighting for different audiences but as the marketplace gets more crowded, these films are fighting for screens and optimal showtimes. It’s great to have a lot of product but some films need a little room to breathe. The box office start for Mortal Kombat II is not a disaster of epic proportions but the outcome should’ve been a bit better all things considered.
What’s interesting as well is that the overseas audience didn’t seem to respond to Mortal Kombat II as robustly as a studio might want for a video game IP with worldwide appeal. The 2021 film was roughly split 50/50 in terms of its domestic and international audience, but the response this time around on the overseas side feels a bit muted. China proved to be a big problem for the movie, with a mere $1.5 million opening in that foreign market. Yes, the impact from China has changed considerably for U.S. tentpoles since the pandemic, but there are still signs of life, and Mortal Kombat II simply didn’t see any there.
The franchise has always had a questionable relationship with the Chinese audience because some believe the game is based on stolen Chinese mythology, and that has tainted a bit of its appeal, but Daniel Camilo, a gaming consultant and writer for Games Industry.Biz, suggested there could’ve been a lane forMortal Kombat II to improve its performance in China. Also, releasing the film there on a Saturday when it was a working day and Mother’s Day falling on Sunday, likely didn’t help matters.
“Producing some performative showcases at some select theaters and locations to promote a movie is cute and all (as it was done), but mostly inconsequential. For a movie like MK2, you need to do wide and comprehensive activation campaigns with local brands (F&B in particular), build-up pre-release hype (plenty of opportunities with this one to do all sorts of gaming related KOL and community initiatives that would grow word-of-mouth, online and irl), and somehow/subtly shoehorn into people’s minds the message that this movie is gory, violent and uncensored as a selling point! Yes, sometimes it’s ok to be shamelessly edgy.”
An $80 million budget is relatively tame compared to other blockbusters, but Warner Bros. did put more money into the sequel compared to the $55 million spent on its predecessor, and they’re going to want a return on that investment, even if costs were still kept on the low end. The break-even point for a film with this budget is in the $200 million worldwide range (some even say upwards of $240 million), which means Mortal Kombat II is going to need some serious legs this summer to see that during its theatrical release.
This weekend sees the release of the horror film Obsession, a movie with stellar reviews ahead of its debut that doesn’t seem like stiff competition on paper but whose buzz might cut into some of its R-rated audience. It gets even more crowded the following weekend with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, which, even in a hesitant Star Wars climate, is still expected to perform well. Mortal Kombat II, along with most of the box office, should see a nice Memorial Day boost, but with so many choices, how big a boost the sequel will get is up in the air.
Fans are a little worried about what the box office performance for this film could spell for Mortal Kombat 3, which isn’t greenlit yet, but writer Jeremy Slater says is already in its second draft of the scripting phase. It’s clear that the sequel was made for the fans, but it may not have broken out enough beyond the uninitiated. The box office for the film dropped between Friday and Sunday, which isn’t always a good sign for a reception beyond the fandom.
Friday, the film grossed $16.8 million, followed by $13.2 million on Saturday and $8.4 million on Sunday, which is not the best indicator of legs and resulted in the film opening below $40 million domestic, which simply looks better on paper than $38.5 million. That being said, fans shouldn’t be all doom and gloom just yet because there are other roads for Warner Bros. to have success with this sequel and beyond.
Mortal Kombat is a huge multimedia property that goes beyond its big-screen presence. Millions are earned by Warner Bros. thanks to the video games and other merchandising. Keeping the franchise going through movies allows for more of those ventures to continue, and that only spells more money generated for Warner Bros. There is a big picture to be looked at here, and that will likely also include how the sequel performs once it exits theaters and is available to stream on HBO Max, along with physical media sales.
A big reason why a sequel was greenlit was because of how the 2021 film performed on HBO Max. Against titles such as Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune, and The Suicide Squad, Mortal Kombat was their most viewed film on the service during its opening weekend, topping films that some might believe have a bigger presence. There is no reason not to believe that Mortal Kombat II won’t also kill it on HBO Max so this also needs to be taken into consideration.
Warner Bros. might also look at the improved creative reception that the sequel has received from critics and moviegoers. Should the sequel have been creatively bankrupt on top of potentially underperforming, this might be a different conversation, but all signs still point to the IP continuing on the big screen to continue a story that is set up in this second film. If anything, release dates will be looked at more closely and other factors will be taken into consideration but another round with Mortal Kombat 3 appears to still be in the cards.
Mortal Kombat II is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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