The Mortal Kombat 2 movie has been pushed back to 2026 as it skips a less lucrative Oct 2025 release date

Eight weeks just before its theatrical debut, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have officially delayed the highly anticipated sequel to NetherRealm’s critically acclaimed fighting game adaptation, Mortal Kombat 2.

The film’s release date has been pushed from October 24, 2025, to May 15, 2026. The decision was taken amid a crowded October lineup, which features movies like 20th Century Studios’ Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White, and Paramount’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Regretting You. October is known for sparse box office performances around Halloween.

According to reports by Deadline, the last-minute shift was driven purely due to financial considerations, as studio executives believe the movie could capitalize on following a lucrative early summer screening, as seen with Warner Bros. and New Line’s recent success with Final Destination: Bloodlines. The movie opened to $50 million domestically and netted $301 million worldwide in mid-May.

The sequel picks up after the events of the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot, now featuring Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, as one of Earth’s champions who fight against each other in a no-holds-barred, gruesome battle to overthrow the tyrannical rule of Shao Khan and safeguard Earth Realm from the Outerworld’s invasion.

The movie will be directed once again by Simon McQuoid, who made his directorial debut with the first film. Mortal Kombat 2’s screenplay has been written by Jeremy Slater, who previously worked on Marvel’s Moon Knight series.

The case includes returning stars like Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Damon Herriman, Lewis Tan, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion.

Development for Mortal Kombat 2 was first announced back in January 2022, after the success of the 2021 Mortal Kombat film, which opened to $23 million during the pandemic and ultimately earned a respectable $42 million domestically.

This delay marks the third time Mortal Kombat 2 has been delayed, and the movie’s filming had reportedly been wrapped up nearly two years ago. Fortunately, fans will get to see the movie on May 15, 2026, in theaters, promising to deliver a fatality to the box office competition this coming summer.