The Mortal Kombat 2 movie's release date has just been moved up a week. It will now hit theaters on May 8, 2026. Summer 2026 is already shaping up to be a busy time for cinema, but this move from Warner Bros. Should hopefully give Mortal Kombat 2 more time in the spotlight.
Released in April 2021 during the height of the pandemic, Mortal Kombat was the first full-length live-action movie to come from the fighting game franchise since 1997's Mortal Kombat Annihilation. While 2021's Mortal Kombat movie wasn't nearly as much of a critical or commercial disaster as Annihilation, it still received a mixed reception from fans and critics alike. But despite the reboot's shortcomings, a sequel was officially greenlit in January 2022.
Mortal Kombat 2 Movie Release Date Has Been Moved Up a Week
Making good on the post-credits tease of its 2021 predecessor, the Mortal Kombat 2 movie will see Karl Urban take the lead role of Johnny Cage, who's joined by returning characters like Sonya, Jax, and the divisive original character Cole Young, as well as fighters from Mortal Kombat canon who didn't appear in the first movie, like Sindel, Jade, and Shao Kahn. According to Deadline, Mortal Kombat 2 was originally set to hit theaters on October 24, 2025, but in August, its release was delayed into 2026.
Its new release date was set as May 15, 2026, with the rumored reasoning being that Warner Bros. Thought it would do better as a Summer 2026 blockbuster than a Fall 2025 movie given the positive response to Mortal Kombat 2's red band trailer, which dropped just a month prior to the decision to delay the movie. Flash forward two months and Warner Bros. Has just changed Mortal Kombat 2's release date once again, this time bringing it a week forward to May 8, 2026.
No official reason has been given by Warner Bros., but the leading theory behind this decision is that the studio wants to distance Mortal Kombat 2 from The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is set to release on May 22, 2026. This new date gives Mortal Kombat 2 a full two weeks' grace from the anticipated Star Wars movie, though it does now put it just a week after The Devil Wears Prada 2. That said, there's probably not a huge overlap between the Mortal Kombat and Devil Wears Prada fandoms.
- Release Date
- May 8, 2026
- Runtime
- 116 Minutes
- Director
- Simon McQuoid
Cast
-
Karl UrbanJohnny Cage -
Adeline RudolphKitana -
Jessica McNameeSonya Blade -
Josh LawsonRevenant Kano
- Writers
- Jeremy Slater
- Producers
- E. Bennett Walsh, Toby Emmerich, Todd Garner, James Wan, Simon McQuoid
- Prequel(s)
- Mortal Kombat
- Franchise(s)
- Mortal Kombat
Source: Deadline