In June 2010, the short Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, based on the popular fighting video game series, hit the web. Armed with recognizable faces like Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan and no small amount of violence, the short became a sensation, racking up millions of views on YouTube. The director was revealed to be choreographer Kevin Tancharoen, and the short spawned a web series that played out over the following year.
When the short hit we wondered if it might be a way to test the waters for a new feature film based on Mortal Kombat. That wasn’t quite the purpose on the studio side of things, though Tancharoen definitely viewed it as an audition. And that audition ended up working out that way in the end. New Line is now planning a new Mortal Kombat film, which will be written by Oren Uziel (the writer of MK: Rebirth) and directed by Tancharoen. Read More »
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Miley Cyrus has one. So do the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber. Now those crazy kids from Fox’s hit musical TV show Glee are getting their own, live, 3D concert movie. 20th Century Fox will release Glee Live! 3D! in theaters on August 12 for a two-week limited engagement directed by Kevin Tancharoen, the man behind those Mortal Kombat shorts. The film will be shot during the upcoming Glee Live! In Concert! North American Tour that starts later this month and feature most of the show’s cast. Read more about it after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 by Angie Han
The first three episodes of Kevin Tancharoen‘s web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, have focused on Earthlings Sonja Blade (Jeri Ryan), Stryker (Tahmoh Penikett), Jax (Michael Jai White) and Johnny Cage (Matt Mullins). For the fourth installment, the series leaves our planet behind for the land of Edenia, which has been taken over by the sinister Outworld empire. The new episode, titled “Kitana & Mileena (Part 1)” follows the origin of the Edenian “sisters,” portrayed here by Samantha Tjhia and Jolene Tran. Aleks Paunovic plays their “father” Shao Khan, and Beatrice Ilg is Kitana’s mother. Watch it after the jump.
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Tuesday marked the nearly one year-in-the-making premiere of a brand new Mortal Kombat online web series called Mortal Kombat: Legacy. The series is co-written and directed by Kevin Tancharoen who directed Fame as well as a 2010 viral video that spawned this series. It follows Sonja Blade (Jeri Ryan), Stryker (Tahmoh Penikett) and Jax (Michael Jai White) and they try and stop an evil crime ring run by Kano (Darren Shahlavi). At least, that’s what happens in the first 10 minutes. Episode two will be out next week with several more episodes coming after that. Check out the first episode after the jump and let us know what you think. Read More »
You might think I sound crazy, but I know I’m not the only one who gets chills when they think about the first time they saw the Mortal Kombat movie. The movie itself is largely disappointing, but after playing the games obsessively at local arcades – lining up quarters, practicing fatalities, etc. – finally sitting down in the theater and hearing the initial scream of “MORTAL KOMBAT,” over the New Line logo, followed by The Immortals techno beats, was a very exciting moment. Unfortunately, it was a little too exciting and there was no way the film could ever live up to it. Why am telling you this? Because anytime there’s a new Mortal Kombat property, I secretly hope that it’ll match the energy of those 20 seconds of pre-credit perfection.
The next chance at that kind of immortality is Mortal Kombat: Legacy, an upcoming live action web series by Kevin Tancharoen that premieres April 12 on Machinima.com, starring Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White. You can check out the first official clip (as well as the clip I mentioned, just for the hell of it) after the jump. Read More »
Last year there was a minor flurry of interest in a new Mortal Kombat film when a spec / proof of concept short appeared online. It was a dark, violent little piece of work that featured some surprising faces like Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White.
Now, while a new feature evidently won’t be happening soon, Kevin Tancharoen, the director of the short, is using it as a launchpad for a new Mortal Kombat web series that will also star Michael Jai White in a story where the classic Kombat characters square off against the series’ big bads, Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung. Read More »
The most attention-getting thing to hit the ‘net on a very slow news day is this seven minutes of Mortal Kombat footage featuring Michael Jai White as Jax. There’s a lot going on here — introductions and backstory for antagonists like Reptile and Baraka, a fight scene featuring Johnny Cage, and even Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade.
But what’s it for? Read More »
Moviehole yesterday scored a nice little scoop from their interview with Kevin Tancharoen, choreographer and director of the new Fame. Afterwards, that story appeared in Variety with absolutely no reference to the Moviehole story but a rather set of info. You’re probably not surprised to read this much. If you want to e-mail Dana Harris Variety and let slip that you’re onto them it might do some good.
What Moviehole discovered is that Tancharoen has his next picture lined up and it’s a sci-fi action film called Arcana that, seemingly, has a little bit of everything in the mix.
Arcana is a unique blend of the graphic-novel backdrop – like Blade Runner – and shot like 300, and has a little bit of Warriors mixed in there, with a little bit of martial arts, so it’s got a lot of crazy elements in there.
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