/News 23.02.21

MORTAL KOMBAT SHOWCASES SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN OFFICIAL TRAILER

From vast red deserts to lush forests and gritty city streets, South Australia’s stunning locations are in the spotlight once again in the new trailer for blockbuster Mortal Kombat.

The biggest screen production ever made in the state, the highly anticipated Warner Bros. action thriller is set to be a super showcase of South Australia’s screen production capability including crew, PDV, and locations, with the trailer giving audiences their first taste of what to expect. 

Alongside iconic characters Sonya Blade (Jessica MacNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Kano (Josh Lawson) and Sub Zero (Joe Taslim), the trailer shows South Australia as a starring character in itself, with bloody battle action unfolding against the dramatic landscapes of Coober Pedy’s spectacular Painted Desert, the gritty streets of Port Adelaide, and the lush forests of Mount Crawford, in the Adelaide Hills, standing in for ancient Japan. 

Credit: Todd Garner

Director Simon McQuoid told IGN South Australia’s locations were so incredible, they barely needed visual effects enhancement.

“I wanted to bring a realism and an authenticity and nonVFX feel to these unreal worlds,” he said.

“We shot in a disused coal mine in the middle of Australia, and pretty much in-camera. That was a pretty incredible location. So the locations we used and the places we found, I really wanted it to feel as in-camera as possible, and we just enhanced what was there.”

Simon McQuoid, Director, Mortal Kombat

Fans and critics alike have praised the Mortal Kombat trailer, with Forbes games journalist Erik Caine saying ‘The trailer for Mortal Kombat is actually pretty awesome. Some great fight scenes, a pretty impressive cast, lots of good special effects and ultra-violence.’

Den of Geek described the trailer as “quite the ride – action-packed, dark as hell, and seemingly very faithful to the original games, the Simon McQuoid-directed movie seems on the right track.”

The Hollywood Reporter noted the film’s “red band” adults-only trailer delivered the blood and gore fans were hoping for, saying “no punches were pulled – in fact, a few went through skulls’, while Mashable said “the trailer exceeded expectations”. 

Renowned SA post-production houses Rising Sun PicturesMR. XKOJO, and Resin, were all contracted to work on the film’s post production with the state’s high calibre VFX expertise on display in some of the epic fight sequences in the released footage. 

As well as McQuoid, bringing the legendary property to life on the big-screen is a team of world-renowned Australian filmmakers led by producers James Wan (Aquaman, The Conjuring films),and Todd Garner (Isn’t It Romantic, Tag), with Larry Kasanoff (Mortal Kombat, True Lies), E. Bennett Walsh (Men in Black: International, The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Michael Clear (The Nun, Lights Out), and Sean Robins (Playing with Fire, Tag) executive producing. 

Contact the team at: