Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
34%RT Audience Score: 25%
Awards & Nominations: NA
With its shallow characters, low budget special effects, and mindless fight scenes, Mortal Kombat – Annihilation offers minimal plot development and manages to underachieve the low bar set by its predecessor
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is the kind of movie that makes you want to go back in time and warn your past self not to waste their time on it. It’s like the filmmakers took all the worst parts of martial arts movies and sci-fi movies and mashed them together into a big, cheesy mess. The only redeeming quality is that it’s so bad, it’s almost funny. Almost. Save yourself the trouble and skip this one.
Production Company(ies)
Jet Tone Production
Distributor
New Line Cinema
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
Filming Location(s)
Ayuthaya, Thailand
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for non-stop martial arts violence
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 34m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 21, 1997 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 25, 2013
Genre(s)
Action
Keyword(s)
Mortal Kombat Annihilation, PG-13, Action, 1h 34m, Robin Shou, Talisa Soto, James Remar, Sandra Hess, Lynn “Red” Williams, Brian Thompson, directed by John R Leonetti, written by Ed Boon, Lawrence Kasanoff, Joshua Wexler, John Tobias, Brent V Friedman, Bryce Zabel, produced by Lawrence Kasanoff, box office gross $35.9M, reviewed by Lawrence Van Gelder, Joe Holleman, Michael Saunders, Chris Stuckmann, Steven Rea, John Petrakis, Robert Roten, Alistair Lawrence, Mike Massie, Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, Steven Mazey, Malcolm Johnson, PG-13 rating, Mortal Kombat, video game adaptation, martial arts, science fiction, low budget special effects, mindless fight scenes, minimal plot development, Emperor Shao-Kahn, mythical Outerworld, Sonya Blade, Jax, Kitana, Liu Kang, warriors, total domination, uniting two worlds, opposition grows, war
Worldwide gross: $51,376,861
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $95,770,623
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,037
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 10,443,907
US/Canada gross: $35,927,406
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $66,971,590
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 943
US/Canada opening weekend: $16,771,694
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $31,263,794
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 435
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $30,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $55,922,426
Production budget ranking: 719
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $30,114,226
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $9,733,971
ROI to date (est.): 11%
ROI ranking: 1,341
Talisa Soto – Princess Kitana
James Remar – Lord Rayden
Sandra Hess – Sonya Blade
Lynn “Red” Williams – Jax Briggs
Brian Thompson – Shao Kahn
Director(s)
John R. Leonetti
Writer(s)
Ed Boon, Lawrence Kasanoff, Joshua Wexler, John Tobias, Brent V. Friedman, Bryce Zabel
Producer(s)
Lawrence Kasanoff
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (53) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (51)
Here’s the lowdown on the latest chapter in Mortal Kombat: deadly dull.
July 20, 2021
Lawrence Van Gelder
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is not just a movie based on a video game, it is a sequel to a movie that was based on a video game. That pedigree should tell you all you need to know about the quality of this movie.
July 20, 2021 | Rating: 1/4
Joe Holleman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
The filmmakers tried to get complicated — and pay a price. The story lines are obviously designed to link the fight scenes, leading to moments of hilariously bad dialogue.
July 20, 2021
Michael Saunders
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a joke.
April 10, 2019
Chris Stuckmann
ChrisStuckmann.com
TOP CRITIC
Never — at least not since the first Mortal Kombat — has tedium been so loud, so full of backward flips and flying fists to the kissers of centaurs from another realm.
September 10, 2014 | Rating: 1.5/4
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
The first sequel to 1995’s highly successful Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat Annihilation adds little to the development of the saga except for a truckload of martial arts sequences and a whole mess of bigger and louder special effects.
September 10, 2014 | Rating: 1/4
John Petrakis
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
I barely managed to make it through Mortal Kombat Annihilation because the dialog is terrible, the story makes no sense and the kung fu action scenes are substandard.
May 16, 2022 | Rating: F
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
A critical and commercial fatality, this fantasy action-adventure flopped so hard it sent its characters back to their original, video-game realm until a 2021 live-action reboot.
April 13, 2022 | Rating: 1/5
Alistair Lawrence
Common Sense Media
The climax devolves into a mess of pitiful CG animalities – video game finishing moves that definitely shouldn’t have been translated into the realm of cinema.
January 2, 2022 | Rating: 1/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
The makers of the thoroughly terrible Mortal Kombat: Annihilation haven’t even attempted to move beyond their source material — the super-popular video game — and actually make a movie.
July 20, 2021
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
L.A. Weekly
Take the worst elements of martial arts movies, the worst elements of science fiction movies… and the cheesiest sets and special effects this side of Ed Wood. Mix them together and you have something called Mortal Kombat Annihilation.
July 20, 2021 | Rating: 1/4
Steven Mazey
Ottawa Citizen
The sequel to the 1995 live-action video-game movie turns out to be idiotic but amusing low kitsch.
July 20, 2021 | Rating: 1/4
Malcolm Johnson
Hartford Courant…
Plot
Mortal Kombat is an ancient tournament where the Earth Realm warriors battle against the forces of Outworld. Liu Kang and a few chosen fighters fought and defeated the powerful sorcerer Shang Tsung, their victory would preserve the peace on Earth for one more generation. Taking place now where the first movie left off, the Earth realm warriors live a short period of peace when evil forces from another dimension come to invade and wreak havoc on Earth. They are guided by the forces of Outworld leader, Shao Kahn and his generals such as: Motaro, Rain, Ermac, Sheeva, and Sindel. Now Liu Kang, Raiden, Jax, Sonya, and Kitana must defeat Shao Kahn in six days before the Earth realm merges with the Outworld.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels review for Mortal Kombat Annihilation.
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