When Superman proved to be a box office success last summer, Warner Bros. made the decision to push video game adaptation Mortal Kombat II back from October 2025 to May 2026. The goal behind that shift was to spruce up the studio’s slate this year, giving it a premium-format genre tentpole ahead of June’s Supergirl. Whenever a film is slated for the summer movie season, it’s a vote of confidence in its ability to be a sizable draw at the box office. In the case of Mortal Kombat II, however, the results are a bit more mixed than WB might have liked. While the sequel hit a notable milestone this weekend, it doesn’t look like it will have strong legs.
According to Variety, Mortal Kombat II grossed $13.4 million domestically in its second weekend, raising its stateside total to $62.2 million. Its current worldwide haul is $101 million. Both of those figures are higher than what 2021’s Mortal Kombat made during its day-and-date release a handful of years ago ($42.3 million domestic; $84.4 million worldwide), but there’s bad news. This weekend, Mortal Kombat II dropped 65% domestically and finished in fourth place on the chart. Last week, it was neck and neck with The Devil Wears Prada 2 for the top spot (ultimately coming in second).
Heading into its debut over Mother’s Day weekend, Mortal Kombat II was projected to earn somewhere between $40-45 million domestically. It ended up making slightly less than those projections, which was probably a bad omen for its long-term box office prospects. High-profile genre films, particularly ones based on pre-existing IP with a built-in fan base, have a tendency to be front loaded. This means they leave the biggest dent at the box office in their opening weekend, which is fueled by excited fans eager to see the movie as soon as possible. After that, business can quickly drop off.
It is possible for films to combat that, but the key is having strong word of mouth. Project Hail Mary had a strong, leggy run that saw it gross over $660 million worldwide because it earned considerable acclaim. That wasn’t the case with Mortal Kombat II. While reviews were solid, the Rotten Tomatoes score is currently a lukewarm 65%. The general consensus is that it’s a fun yet unremarkable action film that’s designed for fans of the gaming series first and foremost. Mortal Kombat II didn’t benefit from “must-see” buzz, which likely had an impact on its second weekend numbers. If reception was stronger, the hold would have been much better.
It’ll be interesting to see how Mortal Kombat II‘s box office figures affects development of Mortal Kombat 3, which has been announced. At last fall’s New York Comic Con, writer Jeremy Slater revealed he had been hired to pen the Mortal Kombat 3 script. This was another sign that WB was extremely confident in Mortal Kombat II, so odds are they might have been hoping for a more robust showing at the box office. Opening under expectations and then suffering a steep drop-off is not a winning formula. Depending on how things go from here, WB could be forced to re-evaluate where the Mortal Kombat film franchise stands.
Next weekend sees the arrival of The Mandalorian and Grogu, which isn’t expected to break records, but it has family appeal and will be snagging those lucrative premium-format theaters. Then shortly after that, the wave of summer tentpoles truly begins with a stacked June that includes a new Steven Spielberg film, Toy Story 5, and DC’s Supergirl. A resurgence up the box office charts for Mortal Kombat II is unlikely. That said, it had a production budget of just $80 million, so it doesn’t need to break the bank to turn a profit. When you factor in what it’ll make from PVOD rentals (plus its performance on HBO Max), WB should be happy with the way things turned out.
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