Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid is unsure how the film's success will be measured. Some of the franchise's most iconic fighters are coming to the big screen again. Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Kano, and Sonya Blade are just some of the many characters to be featured in the film alongside brand new character Cole YoungMortal Kombat was originally slated for March 2021 release before being shifted around the release calendar and landing on its April date.

Mortal Kombat is highly anticipated and the premiere of its first trailer broke records, beating out other red band trailers for films like Logan and Deadpool 2 in its first week. It is now the most viewed red band trailer all time and the film seems poised for success, but how that will be measured is unclear. Mortal Kombat is set to premiere in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously as cinemas still struggle to fill seats in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

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McQuoid said during a round table discussion that this is one of the reasons why he is unsure of how Mortal Kombat will be deemed successful or not. Typically, he says, a film's success could be determined by its opening weekend box office take, but with that out of the equation, McQuoid and the studio will have to look at other metrics of success. At the end of the day, the director feels that the film's success can be measured in fan's reactions to the film and he hopes that they come away from Mortal Kombat the film feeling as happy as they did with the movie's record breaking trailer.

Probably two years ago, it would have been box office weekend, but that doesn't exist anymore. So, I don't know what it will be.

What really matters to me is that the fans come out of it feeling really sated for the things I've talked about; the respect for the material and also the elevation and amplification of the material to this big cinematic experience that's super fun. Mortal Kombat's fun, and the film, I feel, is a really fun ride that I'm very proud of. How we all measure the success of things, I think everyone's finding their way a bit in the film business now. But as long as the feeling they have in the trailer continues through, and they feel that as well.

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McQuoid's fears are understandable - Mortal Kombat is coming out in an entirely different landscape than when the reboot was conceived. Studios and the creatives behind some of their biggest films can no longer rely on box office metrics to decide whether or not their film did well. HBO Max has had some success with its unconventional and controversial release plane, with Wonder Woman 1984 pushing the fledgling streamer past 40 million subscribers.

Mortal Kombat will be one of the biggest films released on the streamer yet, though. After the Wonder Woman sequel, HBO Max is set to release Godzilla vs Kong later this month after Zack Snyder's Justice League hits the streamer. WB will likely have to look to streaming numbers to determine whether or not a sequel will happen, but McQuoid is right in that fans will likely drive the narrative around the film's success. Luckily, if the trailer is any indication, Mortal Kombat will please even the most diehard fans.

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