Mortal Kombat II Box Office Surges Past The Previous Installment's Entire Run In Just 10 Days

2 weeks ago 9

Karl Urban as Johnny Cage wearing sunglasses on a faux movie poster from Mortal Kombat II

Published May 16, 2026, 2:06 PM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

Mortal Kombat II is the box office champion of the franchise.

Per Variety, as of Saturday morning, Mortal Kombat II is projected to earn a 3-day total of $12.7 million at the domestic box office by the end of its sophomore weekend. While this represents a severe week-on-week drop of 67%, it is more than enough to push the movie's cumulative worldwide haul past the $84.4 million earned by 2021's Mortal Kombat during its entire global run.

In spite of the fact that its global debut fell $20 million short of its original projections, the Mortal Kombat II release had already grossed $79.1 million worldwide ahead of its sophomore frame, so its domestic projections are pushing its cumulative gross to $91.8 million. While international grosses will not be tabulated until Sunday, it is entirely possible that the movie will have surpassed the $100 million global milestone by Monday morning.

While the debut of 2021's Mortal Kombat was compromised by a pandemic-depressed theatrical marketplace and a day-and-date streaming release on HBO Max, Mortal Kombat II has also surpassed the $51.4 million total earned by the 1997 installment Mortal Kombat Annihilation to become the second highest-grossing installment of the franchise, not adjusted for inflation. However, when adjusted for inflation, both the 2021 and 1997 movies grossed less than $110 million worldwide, so the new sequel should be able to pass them soon, if it hasn't already.

Below, see a breakdown of the box office performance of the entire live-action Mortal Kombat franchise:

Title

Worldwide Box Office

Adjusted Box Office

Mortal Kombat (1995)	$122.2 million	$266.2 million
Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1997)	$51.4 million	$106 million
Mortal Kombat (2021)	$83.6 million	$104.25 million
Mortal Kombat II (2026)	$91.8 million (& counting)	N/A

The only installment that the new movie does not currently have in its sights is the original 1995 Mortal Kombat, which was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and starred Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage. While Mortal Kombat II could pass its unadjusted total of $122.2 million before long, its adjusted worldwide gross of $266.2 million seems entirely out of the new movie's reach.

However, becoming the second highest-grossing installment in the franchise could still prove to be a huge boon for the new movie. That leaves it plenty of room to thrive on its own terms. It still has a way to climb, however. The reported budget of Mortal Kombat II is $80 million, which could place its estimated theatrical break-even point as high as $200 million.

While Mortal Kombat II could be on a trajectory to hit that benchmark, considering the position that it has already hit after just two weekends in theaters, it is highly probable that it will only turn a small profit in theaters even if it does. However, it should be able to push that number even further with its subsequent streaming, VOD, television, and physical media releases.

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