'Mortal Kombat Rebirth' Film Pitch Unveiled

A slick eight-minute short film from "Mortal Kombat Rebirth" has popped up on YouTube, including appearances by actors Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan. However, it's not a trailer for a new entry in the fighting game franchise, but rather a movie pitch.

The short "was made for the director to sell WB on his vision for a reimagined MK film," Jeri Ryan explained via Twitter, as noticed by Kotaku. "I did it as a favor to a friend. No idea yet what WB's reaction to it was. And I'm not sure how you can contact WB."

That director is Kevin Tanchcharoen (Fame 2009), according to Latino Review.

Earlier this year, reports claimed that Warner Bros--which purchased the rights to Mortal Kombat from defunct publisher Midway--was looking into a new Mortal Kombat film. Shortly thereafter, Threshold Entertainment sued Warner Bros, claiming that it had signed an licensing agreement with Midway in regards to the feature film franchise.

After the Warner Bros purchase, developer Midway Chicago was re-branded WB Games Chicago and apparently continued work on the next entry in the video game franchise, putting out a job listing for someone that could "implement cutting-edge online features to ensure the Mortal Kombat franchise is an industry leader in online functionality."