{"id":418359,"date":"2026-05-08T18:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/418359\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:53:09","slug":"mortal-kombat-ii-goes-to-battle-with-prada-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/418359\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Mortal Kombat II’ Goes to Battle With ‘Prada 2’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLet the Mother\u2019s Day contest begin at the box office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tVideo game adaptation\u00a0<\/a>Mortal Kombat II<\/a> has started off its North American run with $5.2 million in Thursday previews and early Imax screening held on Wednesday. While some tracking services showed the male-fueled martial arts sequel opening to $45 million or more, New Line and parent company Warner Bros. are predicting a far more conservative launch in the $35 million range to $40 million range for a worldwide bow anywhere between $65 million and $80 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2021,\u00a0Mortal Kombat\u00a0was by all accounts a resounding hit on streaming when launching simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max due to the ongoing pandemic. The violent pic debuted to $23 million, including $5.5 million in previews and early screenings, on its way to topping out at $42 million domestically and $84.4 million globally.<\/p>\n

\n\tSimon McQuoid returning to helm Mortal Kombat II<\/a> from a script by Jeremy Slater and\u00a0Karl Urban joining<\/a> the franchise as fan favorite character Johnny Cage, a washed up \u201990s action star called to take part in a tournament that will determine the fate of Earthrealm.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt remains to be seen whether McQuoid\u2019s film can topple The Devil Wears Prada 2<\/a>, which is a natural fit for Mother\u2019s Day and is fast on its way to becoming the biggest female-led film since Warner Bros.\u2019\u00a0Barbie\u00a0in 2023 after kicking off the summer box office<\/a> last weekend in high style. Prada 2\u00a0has been enjoying brisk weekday business<\/a>, including crossing the $300 million mark globally on Wednesday and $100 million on Thursday in North America. <\/p>\n

\n\tAnd don\u2019t forget about Lionsgate\u2019s Michael<\/a> Jackson biopic, which added another milestone to its list of accomplishments on Thursday when dancing past the $200 million mark domestically as it prepares to overtake Bohemian Rhapsody<\/a> ($216.7 million) sometime over the weekend and become the top-grossing music biopic of all time in North America, not adjusted for inflation. And don\u2019t be surprised if its worldwide cume is close to $500 million by Sunday. <\/p>\n

\n\tOther new Mother\u2019s Day offerings, in addition to Mortal Kombat II, include Paramount\u2019s new concert film Billie Eilish<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), which James Cameron<\/a> and the artist co-directed. Tracking has the film \u2014 which has $2.2 million already banked from Thursday previews and special early Imax screenings hosted April 29 \u2014 opening anywhere from $6 million to $9 million. Cameron pioneered special 3D\u00a0cameras designed to make moviegoers feel as if they were part of a live experience that he used when filming Eilish.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne wild card is Amazon MGM\u2019s critically adored\u00a0The Sheep Detectives<\/a>, which grossed $1 million in Thursday previews for a projected opening in the $12 million to $15 million range domestically. The comedy-mystery follows a flock of talking sheep who are determined to solve the suspicious death of their beloved shepherd, played by\u00a0Hugh Jackman<\/a>, who read them detective novels on a regular basis despite having no idea they could understand him. Phil Lord<\/a> and Christopher Miller, directors of 2026 box office hit\u00a0Project Hail Mary, are among the film\u2019s executive producers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let the Mother\u2019s Day contest begin at the box office. Video game adaptation\u00a0Mortal Kombat II has started off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10289,36780,5784,156,47052,117673,5494,6455,20530,20532,409,111,139,69,154811,90563],"class_list":["post-418359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-billie-eilish","tag-bohemian-rhapsody","tag-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-james-cameron","tag-karl-urban","tag-michael","tag-michael-jackson","tag-mortal-kombat","tag-mortal-kombat-ii","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phil-lord","tag-the-devil-wears-prada-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}