RTF EXCLUSIVE: Joel McHale and Jennifer Carpenter Will Lead The Cast of An Animated MORTAL KOMBAT Movie!

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Mortal Kombat is one of those franchises that simply won’t die. And that’s not a bad thing. The folks behind it have managed to stay ahead of the curve, and to find ways of reinventing and reinvigorating the property every few years since it debuted at arcades in 1992. From countless games, to television series, to live-action films, as well as comics, co-creator Ed Boon always seems ready to expand the Mortal Kombat universe.

And thanks to the new(ish) owners of the property, Boon’s got the resources to do some pretty cool stuff with it.

See, Warner Bros. purchased Midway back in 2009 (and renamed it NetherRealm), making them the new owners of all things Mortal Kombat. With that, they were able to reboot and relaunch the game series in 2011 through WB Interactive Entertainment. Having Warner Bros. as its new parent also paved the way for Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, which provided a path for the Injustice games.

So you could say that WB purchasing Mortal Kombat has proven rather fruitful. Yet there’s another department of Warner Bros. looking to visit Outworld: WB Animation.

While a live-action, cinematic reboot for Mortal Kombat has been in the cards for some time, I’m here today to let you know that WB Animation is working on an MK movie of their own!

That’s right. The same studio that oversees all of those wonderful DC animated films you love so much is now getting ready to unveil a Mortal Kombat movie. Get psyched.

But that’s not all. I’ve also got some casting details for you.

Taking a glance at the official cast list for the film, two names jumped out at me as the “marquee stars” for this. One of them is Joel McHale. The one-time Community star, and former host of The Soup and The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale, is undoubtedly the biggest name on the list.

As for who he’s playing? I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to imagine what a perfect Johnny Cage he’d be. Why? Cause McHale’s whole shtick is that he’s a smart alecky Hollywood star, and that’s a core characteristic for Cage as well.

Our educated guess is that McHale will voice Johnny Cage

And that second name that jumped out at me? That would be former Dexter star Jennifer Carpenter. She played the title character’s feisty, turbulent sister Debra on the series, and voiced Selina Kyle in Batman By Gaslight. If I had to venture a guess, barring the introduction of a new female lead, I’d say she’d be ideal for Sonya Blade.

Here are some other cool names on the cast list for this animated Mortal Kombat movie (along with some key voice credits):

Darin DePaul (Spider-Man PS4, Justice League Action)
Fred Tatasciore (He’s absolutely prolific, but you can currently check him out on Avengers Assemble and the new Voltron)
Grey Griffin (Young Justice, Avengers Assemble)
Ike Amadi (Avengers Assemble, Trollhunters)
Kevin Michael Richardson (Another absolutely prolific voice actor, it was just announced he’ll be Mr. Terrific in Justice League vs The Fatal Five. Also? He voiced Goro in the 1995 live-action film…)
Patrick Seitz (Has voiced Scorpion for all of the new MK games)
Robin Atkin Downes (Disenchantment, Voltron, a ton more)
Steve Blum (Voiced Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat reboot game)
Jordan Rodrigues

If I had to guess, half-Malaysian actor Rodrigues may be voicing Liu Kang. But I’m only saying that because he bares a strong resemblance to the character in real life, so it’s more of an uneducated guess.

Some find it notable that there’s been so much news about animated projects as of late, coming out of Warner Bros, specifically. Between this Mortal Kombat movie (which I hear could end up being a two-parter), and other recent scoops of mine that revealed that Batman: Long Halloween and Superman: Red Son adaptations are coming, it feels like there’s been a noticeable uptick in animated film projects.

But I don’t think there’s much a mystery as to why.

Warner Bros is launching their own WarnerMedia streaming service by the end of the year. As such, they’ll need a ton of exclusive content in order to appeal to potential subscribers- many of whom already have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and/or more. WB knows that they’ve got quite a reputation when it comes to their animated films, and are likely looking through all of their different intellectual properties and trying to mine them for projects.

These kinds of films are also ridiculously inexpensive to produce when you compare them to live-action movies and TV series. Many of your favorite DC Animated films are said to have cost less than $5 million to make. So projects like these are a smart investment.

But they also take time. And considering this hasn’t been announced yet, I wouldn’t expect confirmation of this project for a bit. So you’ll have to sit tight, my friends. Just remember where you heard about it first when it does get confirmed.

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