Mortal Kombat

What is the budget of Mortal Kombat?

"Mortal Kombat," a action released in 1995, was directed by Simon McQuoid and stars Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee. The production budget was $20,000,000, placing it in the mid-budget range for action productions of the 1990s.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a action production like this include:

• Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects: Action films allocate a substantial portion of their budget to choreographing and executing practical stunts, pyrotechnics, and CGI-heavy sequences.
• Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director): A-list talent commands significant upfront fees plus backend participation.
• Production Design, Sets & Locations: Action films frequently require multiple international shooting locations, large-scale set construction, vehicle acquisitions and modifications, and specialized equipment , all of which drive production costs well above those of dialogue-driven genres.
• Development: In 1997, Robin Shou's original Mortal Kombat contract was a three-picture deal, and Threshold Entertainment's production on a second sequel was initially scheduled to commence shortly after the release of Annihilation, but it was shelved due to Annihilations poor reception and disappointing box-office performance.

What were the major cost factors in Mortal Kombat?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Mortal Kombat."

• Stunts: Stunts, Action Sequences & Visual Effects is one of the primary cost drivers in action productions of this scale.
• Above-the-Line Talent (Cast: Above-the-Line Talent (Cast & Director) is one of the primary cost drivers in action productions of this scale.
• Production Design: Production Design, Sets & Locations is one of the primary cost drivers in action productions of this scale.

How Does Mortal Kombat's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $20,000,000, Mortal Kombat sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• 12 Years a Slave (2013): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $187,000,000
• 21 Grams (2003): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $60,427,839
• 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $11,798,854
• A Guy Thing (2003): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $17,400,000
• A Most Violent Year (2014): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $12,007,070

The median budget for wide-release action films in the 2020s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Mortal Kombat Box Office Performance

"Mortal Kombat" earned $42,326,031 domestically and $84,426,031 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $20,000,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "Mortal Kombat," that break-even threshold was roughly $40,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $84,426,031, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $20,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $84,426,031
• Net Return: $64,426,031
• ROI: approximately 322.1%

At 322.1%, "Mortal Kombat" earned roughly $4.22 for every $1 invested in production.

Mortal Kombat Production History

In 1997, Robin Shou's original Mortal Kombat contract was a three-picture deal, and Threshold Entertainment's production on a second sequel was initially scheduled to commence shortly after the release of Annihilation, but it was shelved due to Annihilations poor reception and disappointing box-office performance. Attempts to produce a third film since then were stuck in development hell with numerous script rewrites and storyline, cast, and crew changes. A November 2001 poll on the official Mortal Kombat website hosted by Threshold asked fans which characters they believed would die in the third movie.

Joe Taslim was the first actor cast for the production in July 2019, as Sub-Zero. In August, Mehcad Brooks, Tadanobu Asano, Sisi Stringer, and Ludi Lin were cast in the roles of Jax Briggs, Raiden, Mileena, and Liu Kang respectively. Later that month, Josh Lawson, Jessica McNamee, Chin Han and Hiroyuki Sanada were cast as Kano, Sonya Blade, Shang Tsung and Scorpion respectively, with Lewis Tan in the role of Cole Young, an original character created for the film.

Production took place at Adelaide Studios and other locations in South Australia, lasting from September 16 to December 13, 2019. In November 2020, Todd Garner stated that "we have more days to shoot" in a statement regarding the film's release delay. The film was shot on the ARRI ALEXA LF and Mini LF cameras with Panavision Anamorphic lenses.

Awards and Recognition

4 wins & 10 nominations total

• AACTA Award for Best Sound: Robert Mackenzie
• AACTA Award for Best Production Design

Critical Reception

Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. The Hollywood Reporters John DeFore said the film was "not exactly a knockout" and wrote: "A B-movie that would benefit immensely from some wit in the script and charisma in the cast, it's not as aggressively hacky as P.W.S.A.'s oeuvre, but it runs into problems he didn't face in 1995: namely, the bar has been raised quite a bit for movies in which teams of superpowered young people have fights to save the universe."