Mortal Kombat II Is Putting Up A Good Fight, But Might Not Be The Box Office Champion

2 weeks ago 27

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

It's going to be a showdown to the bitter end for Mortal Kombat II.

2026's Mortal Kombat II, which is currently vying for No. 1 at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, is a direct sequel to 2021's Mortal Kombat, though it's the fourth live-action movie to adapt the video game series overall. The movie reunites original director Simon McQuoid with a number of returning cast members, including Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Josh Lawson as Kano, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, and Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade. Joining the cast this time are Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, and Adeline Rudolph as Kitana.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Mortal Kombat II is projected to earn a 3-day gross between $40 and $42 million at the domestic box office by the end of its debut weekend. Although it opened opposite a number of major new releases, including the Hugh Jackman whodunit comedy The Sheep Detectives and James Cameron's concert documentary Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), it is set to earn the biggest domestic debut of the weekend.

However, it remains to be seen if the movie is able to debut at No. 1. It comes just one weekend after the opening weekend of the buzzy sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2, which premiered at No. 1 with a whopping $76.7 million. The Meryl Streep movie is putting up a good fight to keep its position at the top of the chart thanks to a slim sophomore weekend drop that is expected to be less than 48%.

The sequel is keeping pace with the original 2006 The Devil Wears Prada, which only dropped 45.5% during its own sophomore weekend. This also places its 3-day projections between $40 and $42 million, making it neck-and-neck for No. 1 with Mortal Kombat II. Even if it falls behind the new action movie, this is a remarkable outcome for Devil Wears Prada 2. If it continues to maintain a trajectory similar to the original movie, it could earn as much as $900 million worldwide by the end of its run, more than justifying its substantial reported budget of $100 million.

More to come...

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