both released by New Line Cinema. The first film was released on August 18, 1995, grossing $23 million on its first weekend. Despite mixed reviews from critics, Mortal Kombat became a financial success, eventually grossing approximately $70 million in the U.S. and over $122 million worldwide; the film also gained a cult following amongst fans of the video game series with :Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto and Christopher Lambert starring, and its success launched the Hollywood career of its director, Paul W. S. Anderson. However, this momentum did not carry over into the movie's sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which was directed by John R. Leonetti with Shou and Soto as the only two returning from the first film. The film received a poor reception by critics and fans alike, grossing only $36 million in the U.S. and $51 million worldwide, a disappointing result when compared with the first film. In 2010, director Kevin Tancharoen released an eight-minute Mortal Kombat short film, titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, made as a proof of concept for Tancharoen's pitch of a reboot movie franchise to Warner Bros. Pictures. Tancharoen later confirmed that the unofficial short featured the writing of Oren Uziel, who at the time was rumored to be writing the screenplay for a third Mortal Kombat movie. In September 2011, New Line and Warner Bros. announced that Tancharoen had signed on to direct a new feature-length film from a screenplay written by Uziel, with the intention of aiming for an R rating. Shooting was expected to begin in March 2012 with a budget of well under $100 million (projected at between $40–50 million) and a release date of 2013, but was ultimately delayed due to budget constraints. Tancharoen quit the production in October 2013. A reboot, Mortal Kombat (2021), was released on April 23, 2021 to mixed reviews, grossing over $84 million worldwide from theaters while also releasing simultaneously on the streaming service HBO Max. Production restarted on a reboot in 2015 when James Wan joined to produce and director Simon McQuoid joined the following year. The script was written by Greg Russo and David Callaham with Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, and Hiroyuki Sanada starring. A sequel is in development with McQuoid returning as director and Jeremy Slater set to write the screenplay. Cole Young was introduced as the protagonist of the 2021 film and