2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Time Warner Cable Sued For Passing Lakers-Dodgers Costs On … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Lego Movie’ 
Russell Crowe Sets ‘The Water Diviner’ For … 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
CNN’s ‘New Day’ Debut Up In Demo But … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Paramount- Montecito Set Black List Scribes Eyal Podell … 
‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
Ratings Rat Race: ‘The Voice’ Rises, … 
Angelina Jolie Stunt Double Files First U.S. Phone-Hacking … 
MGM & BermanBraun Sign TV Production Deal, First-Look … 
His resume is filled with dance-centric TV programs with Britney Spears and Pussycat Dolls, and his first film, Fame, flopped. How then could director Kevin Tancharoen–a Fanboy at heart–regain enough street cred to put himself in contention to direct a scifi fantasy film? Tancharoen spent $7500 of his own money, got a script by Oren Uziel, called in favors with actors like Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan and made in two days what amounts to an audition film for an edgy new version of Mortal Kombat. It has become a viral sensation since Tancharoen posted it on Youtube early last week, getting around 6.5 million hits so far, and the Fanboy websites are all over it. Movie rights to Mortal Kombat–originally turned into a 1995 film by Paul W.S. Anderson–were bought by Warner Bros when the studio’s interactive division acquired the catalog of Midway Games. There are definite plans to relaunch the vidgame, but insiders say a movie is no sure thing. It’s a bit messy with original producer Larry Kasanoff and his Threshold Entertainment threatening a lawsuit. Whether or not he gets the job, Tancharoen’s phone is starting to ring again, which means it was money well spent. View the short below:
Loading ...
Looks like he picked up a couple of tips from his sister and brother-in-law’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog project.
HEY KEVIN IM A HUGE FAN OF MORTAL KOMBAT I SAW THE PREVIEW IS NICE ALSO WITH THE ACTORS YOU GOT THERE NICE ALSO I SHOULD TELL THAT A GOOD ACTOR YOU NEED TO PUT THERE IS ONES OF HE BEST FITHERS IVE SEEN IS SCOTT ADKINS FROM UNDISPUETED 2 AND 3 MICHEL JAI WHITE KNOW HIM HELL TELL YOU MORE ABOUT HIM THIS MOVIE NEED GOD FIGHTERS AND AS WELL GOOD ACTORS AND THEY ARE!! GOOD LOCK AND HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU ABOUT THIS MOVIE KEEP IT UP!
This short has so much promise for a longer full length feature. I would give my Visual Effects experience in an way possible for a project like this. This is one of those projects that you can tell that everyone involved is an actual fan of the content. You can tell Kevin Tancharoen really enjoyed making this because every shot is set up so well. Again I would love to be involved in a project like this.
I’ve been a fan of MK every since i dropped some coins in the MK1 arcade machine at the local take away shop way back in 1992 it’s about time someone took this seriously because it has a real fanbase and potential and i think the short film shows this.
I can’t believe how well it was all put together, the acting is great the grittyness suites it, just an all round great job, i’ll be keeping an eye on this project for sure. Thanks Kevin and all the actors.
Though i think baraka could look alittle better.
fan boys may like this, but from a professional standpoint… it’s VERY B at best. it’s really cheesy and arch… if this were expanded into a feature, it would be a straight to DVD, so his phone may be ringing off the hook, but the question is… who is on the other end?
Very B at best? Lets give you $7500 and see what you come up with.
If you think about it, the whole concept of MK is a bit cheesy. A hollywood actor, a ninja from hell and other characters battling to the death in an Outworld. I give this guy all the props in the world for giving it an UNcheesy feel!
“VERY B at best.”
Uh, this is Mortal Kombat we’re talking about. Are you that unfamiliar with the property, and video games in general?
B is great. All too often, modern Hollywood tries so hard to look “professional” to the point where the movies just suck.
As a ‘fanboy’ like all self-respecting males who grew up on Mortal Kombat, this short was fantastic. Cheesy? Our definitions of cheesy are clearly different.
Of COURSE it’s “B”. The guy only spent $7500 on it! The caliber of the acting was donated and we all know that donated acting talent is nowhere NEAR what it is when it’s bought and paid for. But you HAVE to admit… the short made the original movie look like a shoddy cartoon with stick puppets for characters. I LOVE that he actually established some character back-story! That is what is absolutely guaranteed to sell the re-launch of the franchise as a feature film. A movie based on a video game never stands a chance at being a critical marvel unless the film makers completely revamp most of the plot and line it with substantial character development. The back stories of Baraka, Scorpion, and Reptile already have me sold! This was a brilliant gamble for this guy! It’s not something I would have the guts to do, which is why his name is all over the film-news and mine’s never been mentioned at the movie theatre even by my friends. The guy is brilliant, even if his previous projects did flop, it shows tremendous courage as a film maker to keep rolling like he is and to take such risks! This short is nowhere NEAR what a full “rebirth” of the franchise will produce if the studios and distributors decided to invest whole heartedly in green-lighting it! Brilliance! Sheer brilliance!
B IS BEST!
V
as a mortal kombat fanboy, i wholeheartedly can say that this movie looks like krap.
Then I guess you out of touch with the fan boys who have spoken. Overwhelmingly positive.
Great job. Let’s not forget the great cinematography, fx, picture editing, sound editing and mixing as well. Hopefully those people will get something out of it too.
He definitely got the feel right. But what’s up with the excessive use of slo-mo? He also has no idea of suspense. It’s a bit of a mess really.
But he got absolutely nailed the feel! I *believe* it is Mortal Kombat because I can *feel* it is MK. It takes me back to playing it on Nintendo.
Funny…it takes me back to when I played MK on Sega Genesis.
ummm its a fighting movie and the budget for he short was 7500 i think slo mo is an effect hes allowed to ue with no limitaions for those reasons….come on suspense….wait for the movie if u want suspense
People seem to forget that this is a short for a video game movie. Of course it’s going to be a little tongue in cheek. It was all about ambiance and nailing the feel of the picture in general. A most solid effort. If made into a feature, I have no doubt that it would be a blast.
–Blah
Tongue in cheek is fine blabla, but this wasn’t – this looked like they took it serious – and it was cheesy.
And the people defending cheesy – it doesn’t have to be story – and story can be made to look cheesy, or not – depends on how to do it.
This looks amazing! Could use more slo-mo however and maybe about 100 million more explosions!
I think it looks sweet. And judging by fanboy reaction, if Tancharoen gets the chance to make it into a feature, it would be instant cash for WB.
This is pretty awesome – been seeing it all week on the fanboy sites…director really struck a nerve here and got everyone excited which is hard to do.
This is better than THE A-TEAM, that’s for sure. I always thought KT got a raw deal after FAME. the film wasn’t bad it was just not anything like the original and was too kid-friendly.
I’m surprised. While movies like this aren’t my thing, and Tancharoen did not impress me when I met him, for the money and the time spent, this works pretty damn well. Nicely done Pancho.
The
“VERY B” guy sounds like a 12 year old pretending to know the business. To do something that looks that good for 7500 is unheard of, and to think a violent tournament action/horror film can’t be in theaters just shows a deep level of ignorance.
Not disagreeing with you, but let’s put $7500 in perspective…the time of actors, special fx folks, studio time, cameras and possibly more we’re donated…that being said, still very impressed by what he was able to churn out from a two day shoot. I hope he gets a lot of success from it, but the $7500 number is a bit misleading.
Yeah, he had ppl donate the cameras. He called in allot favors and just general support like the actors in the teaser. They wouldnt have done it if they didnt have faith in what he was doing. Lets face it, we were never suppose to see the teaser. It was just for WB to see his vision. The teaser actually leaked out lol. Outside of that, there was more film then the 8mins we saw. He spent roughly 2 months editing threw all the film him self to make the final teaser. There are also character photos yet to be release…. I would love to see them.
Capturing the “feel” of any video game is essential to turning it into a successful film. It’s why the 1st MK movie was a hit & why just about every other film based on a vg (Doom, Street Fighter etc)tanked. This trailer has MK down to a science. It also succeeds as a trailer– I want to see this movie!
Is there a petition?
Though, as an MK psycho back in the day, I would have foregone part of the fight scene to introduce the other MK characters & how they come into being w/in the presented framework.
Good luck, Kevin! Hope you score this gig!
Impressive.
Ugh, why would anybody own up to that video? It completely sucks all the fun out of the Mortal Kombat franchise by turning it into some sort of lame cop drama / martial arts mash-up and taking out all of the fantasy elements of the game. Fail.
The answer to your question can be solved by watching Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
Rent it…then realize how stupid you sound. YOU fail.
Chasing bad-guys. Stopping evil doers, Scorpion being a killer yet somehow saving the world(its in the game). And if you think it doesnt have enough “magic”, I’m sorry. But hell, MK1 was mostly, if not only, physical battle and done purely on Earth. I mean teaser is gritty and raw… IMO this soaks up MK roots with serial killers and blood fighting.
More dull combat.
$7500 + favors + two productions days = this? Damn.
I’m generally not a fan of movies based on video games, but haters should produce a link to anything THEY’VE created under similar constraints before knocking this guy’s work. He/his team delivered, and then some. Kudos to the people behind this.
And he did the editing him self. Took him 2 months.
For $7500 this looks movie quality. At 40 million I think my head would explode. Great work KT, if the WB doesn’t give it to you they have their head up their A$$
Oren’s a great writer so I’m not surprised this turned out well. I want to see more material from him. SHIMMER LAKE, his screenplay, is fantastic.
I think this looks amazing. KT really seems to have knocked it out of the park. 7 million Youtube views since it hit? Seems like people are excited and ready for a new vision. The cast looks great, and you know they are going to add more names to the cast now that there is a good buzz. I am excited. FLAWLESS VICTORY!
I thought it was good. I’d go see it. The guy calling it B at best is jealous. Just be happy for the guy. He’s out there like all of us trying to do something, Don’t knock him down with negative comments. Nobody wants to hear that bullshit. I admire guys like Kevin. He’ll go very far with this, if not Mortal Combat, with something else. It’s not his fault Fame flopped. Everyone has a flop so don’t hate!
James Cameron hasn’t had a flop.
For its budget, Avatar was a massive flop.
It looks good, but how’s his storytelling? Almost anyone can produce two cool minutes of martial arts fighting. Now let’s see this remain compelling for an hour and a half.
Seems like a really over-serious take on Mortal Kombat to me . . must we “Dark Knight” everything that used to be goofy and fun?
I have to say that this trailer or promotional video was badass. When I watched it I could not believe what I just saw. This guy is a genius and I think he did what no one else could do with 7500 dollars. This put me in a excited state for almost a week and I’m only 16 years old. I think WB needs to start funding this guy the money to make this movie. I also think that he could go with a bit of the magic that made Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat. If there is anyway that anyone can start a petition or send emails to the people who run the WB studio I think we can help this director get this movie into production and up and going. Who’s with me?
My only question is why has Kevin Tancharoen been wasting his time on pointless films when he could easily be a great director of action films. I understand everyone has their own opinion, but with only $7,500 of his OWN money, the powers that be would be asinine not to give him the budget to make Mortal Kombat: Rebirth another action blockbuster. Plus, this will get the bad taste of that horrible Mortal Kombat sequel out of my mouth.
Michael Jai White deserves better than this trash, he should be in the sequel to “Karate Kid”, not in this garbage!!! He has never been given material that would give him real direction, or something to act with, but he is one of the greatest martial artist of all time…with 7 different blackbelts, in 7 different forms of martial arts, to his name, and they didn’t even use him to do any martial arts here? This is below B-grade writing and directing, it is just amatuer hour here, at best, and incompetence, for incompetence sake, at worst–and BTW, I am a big fan of Science Fiction and fantasy, so I am not a snob. Let “Mortal Kombat” die already, it is a video game concept that does not work in film. If I were to do it, as an adaptation, I’d only use the name, and dispense with the corny science fiction characters, fantasy elements, and movie martial arts. I’d make this film real world based…with real martial arts moves, no slo-motion shots, or overly choregraphed fight routines. Just make the damn film about a martial arts tournament, not unlike MMA, or better yet, the movie “Fight Club” where, unlike MMA or Fight Club, people can be killed as a result of the fights.
WOW! You could not be MORE out of touch with this audience. Stick to watching Julie and Julia. You hold absolutely no weight in talking about this type of material since you are clearly incompetent. If you want to talk Fight Club…then imagine you in a brawl with the rest of the people on this board. You’d be sucking on Meatloaf’s tits.
And the movie you are suggesting they make…is below C grade. Check out ANY movie with that synopsis and feel embarrassed for being so silly.
Yeah, seems like Hollywood is still punishing Michael Jai White for “Spawn”.
He was great in “Black Dynamite”, and it’s shame Hollywood hasn’t tried to make him into a legitimate action star in A list films, instead of guys like Jason Statham.
I still gotta check out Jai White in “Undisputed II”.