Round Three Begins: Mortal Kombat II Writer Jeremy Slater Is Already Writing the Third Movie

Mortal Kombat II writer Jeremy Slater says the threequel hasn’t been greenlit, but he’s already wrapped a new script draft.

So, Mortal Kombat II took a pretty solid swing at the box office this weekend—not quite landing a fatality, but still managing to draw some blood (in the best way possible). Sure, it lost the top spot to The Devil Wears Prada 2 (insert your own 'Finish Her!' joke here), but it still racked up $40 million, which is nothing to complain about, especially considering the weird rollout the first film dealt with on HBO Max and in theaters.

Wait, Is Mortal Kombat III Even Happening?

Here's where things start to get interesting. Despite the big tease at the end of Mortal Kombat II, the green light for a third film is not a done deal. According to the film's writer, Jeremy Slater, it's all up in the air right now. Here’s what he told The Hollywood Reporter:

'We are not green-lit for a third movie yet. When the initial test screening numbers came back last year and the studio saw how fans were responding to II, I think they realized that there’s a potential here for this to be an ongoing franchise. So they commissioned me to start working on a script for III, and I’m finishing a second draft right now.'

So yeah, Slater’s working on a script for part three, but no one is signing any contracts or building any sets just yet.

The Ending Wasn’t Always Like That

If you walked out of Mortal Kombat II thinking, 'Wait, that ending seemed like it was trying way too hard to set up another movie,' you’re not wrong—and for once, it’s not just your imagination. Turns out, the sequel’s original ending was more of a shrug, wrapped up as a wordless montage. Everybody involved thought it was abrupt, kind of a 'meh' finish for something that just spent two hours kicking people through walls.

The answer? Reshoots. Slater wrote a new ending that actually dropped some teases and brought the surviving characters front and center for a little more closure. Here’s how he put it:

'When we were looking at the initial cuts, we loved the final battle and everything leading up to the ending, but we all walked away feeling like the ending was a little bit too abrupt. We were missing the final check-in with all of our characters. It happened as a wordless montage, and that wasn’t sending people out of the theater with the feeling that we particularly wanted. So that’s why I wrote the new ending. It gives you a little bit more fun with all the main characters, and it teases where the series could go in a future movie. It also provides a glimmer of hope. We know we killed some pretty big names along the way. Some of you guys might have just lost your favorite characters, but once again, death is never final in this universe. So we wanted people to walk out of the theater with that glimmer of hope that they’ll maybe see some of their all-time faves again.'

Translation: That tease at the end about what comes next? Totally a reshoot.

Will Mortal Kombat II Earn a Round Three?

It's all about the numbers now. Even though Mortal Kombat II nearly matched the previous film’s entire box office haul in just its opening weekend, the movie was much more expensive—about $80 million before you even think about marketing costs. Its total international debut? $63 million. So, technically, it's got a long way to go before anyone at the studio can call this a 'win' and start greenlighting Mortal Kombat III.

The bottom line: If audiences keep showing up and the film keeps cashing in over the next few weeks, expect to see more fatal blows, character revivals (because nobody stays dead in this universe), and—let’s hope—a third round for this franchise. For now, Slater’s keeping the faith:

'We’re taking some of the fan reactions from early screenings to make III even bigger and even more satisfying. We want to continue to raise the bar for ourselves along the way.'

Here's Who's in Mortal Kombat II

• Lewis Tan
• Jessica McNamee
• Josh Lawson
• Ludi Lin
• Joe Taslim
• Mehcad Brooks
• Chin Han
• Tadanobu Asano

So that's the story: good enough numbers to hope for a trilogy, but not a sure thing yet—plus, a reshot finale to make sure everyone walks out hyped for more. Only Hollywood accounting stands between us and Mortal Kombat III.