With half-finished visual effects and a stunted production schedule, even a Sith Lord couldn't revive "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" in the eyes of moviegoers.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00With half-finished visual effects and a stuntive production schedule, even a Sith Lord couldn't
00:05revive Mortal Kombat Annihilation in the eyes of moviegoers.
00:10After making a splash in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, Lyndon Ashby and Christopher Lambert
00:15both declined to return for Annihilation, and were each recast with different actors.
00:20In an interview featured in the 2017 book Lights, Camera, Game Over!
00:24Chronicling the movie's production, producer Lawrence Kasanoff attributes a scheduling
00:28conflict to Lambert dropping out from Annihilation.
00:31Years after the 1997 film's release, however, Lambert cited the poor quality of the script
00:36for his decision to not return.
00:38"...I'm sorry."
00:41Kasanoff also claimed that Johnny Cage was killed early in Annihilation to shock the
00:45audience, but Ashby disputes this.
00:48In a separate interview in Lights, Camera, Game Over!, Ashby claims he was open to reprising
00:52his role as Johnny, but Kasanoff did not want to honor his sequel deal.
00:56After seeing the script for Annihilation, Ashby also turned down the offer due to the
01:00poor quality of writing.
01:02Johnny Cage wasn't the only returning fighter recast for Annihilation, as J.J. Perry replaced
01:07Chris Casamassa as Scorpion when Casamassa signed on to do stunts in Batman & Robin instead.
01:13More than just playing the yellow-clad ninja warrior, Perry also played noob Cybot and
01:18Cyrax in the film, with each ninja getting their own fights in the movie.
01:22Calling Triple Duty came at a painful price for Perry, as the actor and stunt performer
01:26injured himself during production.
01:28Perry revealed that the cumbersome mask involved in the Cyrax costume inhibited his vision,
01:33causing Perry to roll his ankle on a power cable.
01:36Because of this injury, Perry says he wasn't at his full physical potential for Scorpion's
01:40fight scene against his icy rival, Sub-Zero.
01:43In a 2019 interview with Upcomer.com, Casamassa revealed that the planned fight sequence between
01:48Scorpion and Sub-Zero had originally been designed to be longer and more ambitious,
01:54but may have been shortened after his role was recast.
01:57It wasn't only major cast members who were replaced from the original Mortal Kombat.
02:01Its director, controversial filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson, ultimately opted not to helm
02:06the sequel.
02:07Anderson made a name for himself in the late 90s and early 2000s, overseeing films that
02:12were often financially successful, such as genre fare like Alien vs. Predator.
02:17His decision not to return to Annihilation opened up the director's chair to John R.
02:21Leonetti, cinematographer from the first Mortal Kombat.
02:25Though Anderson maintains his vocal respect for Kasanoff, in an interview in Lights Camera
02:29Game Over, he described his dynamic with the producer as less than smooth during Mortal
02:34Kombat's production.
02:35However, he voiced his support in having Leonetti promoted to director for Annihilation.
02:40Whereas the 1995 Mortal Kombat was filmed in California and Thailand, Annihilation was
02:45more ambitious, with production traveling to a higher number of countries for filming
02:49locations during principal photography.
02:52In a 1997 interview with GamePro, Lawrence Kasanoff promised the film would be bigger
02:56in scope and action than its predecessor.
02:59This meant there would be more scenes within the parallel universe of Outworld, filmed
03:03in more exotic locations, to create an otherworldly aesthetic to the proceedings.
03:07"...your planet and Outworld have begun to merge into one realm.
03:11Think of it as hell on Earth."
03:13Aside from Thailand, Annihilation also shot scenes on location in Israel, Jordan, and
03:18the United Kingdom, with shooting in the latter location including the abandoned copper mine
03:22of Paris Mountain.
03:24In a 1997 interview timed to coincide with the film's release, Kasanoff explained that
03:28wet, windy weather conditions at the copper mine had hampered filming.
03:32In one instance, the winds picked up so dramatically that the production's base camp was blown away.
03:38One of the few actors from the 1995 Mortal Kombat film to return for Annihilation was
03:43Robin Shou, reprising his fan-favorite role as master martial artist Liu Kang.
03:48While Shou performed many of his own fight scenes, he did have a stunt performer double
03:52for certain aspects of his performance.
03:55Doubling for Shou in Annihilation was Thai actor and stunt choreographer Tony Jaa, who
03:59would go on to have his own celebrated career as a martial arts movie star.
04:03Jaa became known to international audiences after starring in the 2003 martial arts film
04:08Ong Bark, The Thai Warrior, and he's since gone on to appear in Furious 7 and Monster
04:13Hunter.
04:14Though Jaa had done stunt work in local Thai films, Annihilation provided him a major stepping
04:18stone, with Jaa recalling years later his good fortune in fitting Shou's physical size
04:23and fighting style.
04:25Like Tony Jaa, prolific stunt performer Ray Park similarly rose from nameless background
04:29performer to beloved genre star shortly after his work in Mortal Kombat.
04:34Park had one of his first on-camera experiences in Annihilation, and like Perry, he took on
04:38multiple roles to do so.
04:40Most notably, the Scottish stuntman doubled for James Rehmer as Raiden in various sequences.
04:45Park also doubled for Dennis Kiefer as Baraka, and appeared as one of the Outworld reptile
04:50ninjas that menaced the heroes.
04:52Park broke out in 1999, appearing as both Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom
04:57Menace, and the Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.
05:01Park's first major on-screen speaking role was in 2000's X-Men, playing the acrobatic
05:05mutant supervillain Toad, and he went on to play Snake Eyes in the early G.I.
05:10Joe films.
05:11Park has since navigated some controversies, but during a panel appearance at Salt Lake
05:15City Comic-Con in 2013, he credited Mortal Kombat Annihilation for jumpstarting his career,
05:20and expressed interest in returning to the franchise if ever invited.
05:25Chris Conrad replaced Lyndon Ashby in the role of Johnny Cage in Annihilation.
05:29Fans didn't have long to get accustomed to Conrad in the role, however, as Johnny is
05:33brutally killed by Shao Kahn in the opening scene.
05:36As Conrad recalled to KillerFilm.com in 2011,
05:39"'Yep, got my neck broke in record time.
05:41I told people when it came out to get you popcorn and raisinets after the first ten
05:45minutes, so you don't miss me.'"
05:47But despite this quick and ceremonious dispatching of the beloved character, tentative plans
05:52at the time were to have Johnny return later in the film as a ghost.
05:55Evidently, that's not how things played out in the film's production.
05:59There were plans by Kasanoff to continue the film's series with a sequel to Annihilation,
06:03tentatively named Mortal Kombat Devastation.
06:06However, the poor critical and commercial reception of Annihilation quietly led to the
06:10project being delayed for years.
06:12In the early 2000s, pre-production picked up again, with both Shue and Ashby saying
06:16in interviews at the time that the film was planning to go into production.
06:20After a planned filming location in Louisiana was impacted by Hurricane Katrina and Kasanoff
06:25unsuccessfully sued to stop the sale of Midway Games and the Mortal Kombat license to Warner
06:29Bros., Devastation was shelved for good.
06:32Though Kasanoff envisioned Annihilation going bigger and better than its predecessor, a
06:37tight production budget and rushed schedule complicated matters.
06:40This led to significant sequences that were written for the film being reduced or cut
06:44entirely.
06:45In an interview for Lights, Camera, Game Over, co-writer Brent V. Friedman recalled that
06:49budget limitations led to major cuts from the final screenplay, saying,
06:53I would be told, hey, this epic battle that was four pages long now needs to be a two-person
06:58battle that's two pages long.
07:00When you cut out a big sequence like that, the whole movie suffers because it was designed
07:03to be a big action set piece at a very specific point in the movie."
07:07Looking back on the disastrous critical reception and box office drop-off for the Mortal Kombat
07:12sequel, Kasanoff cites a rushed production schedule as the primary culprit.
07:17In Lights, Camera, Game Over, Kasanoff said he should have insisted the studio wait at
07:20least six more months before launching into Annihilation's production.
07:24Unfortunately, the breakneck schedule they opted for resulted in truncating development
07:28and post-production cycles.
07:30It also required additional material to be filmed to make things more coherent.
07:34Kasanoff revealed that they had no time for reshoots to resolve any plot holes if they
07:38were to meet the studio's all-important deadline.
07:41Looking back, Kasanoff explained that he would have liked an additional week in Thailand
07:44and Jordan, along with several weeks of studio time, to undergo reshoots after reviewing
07:49a rough cut.
07:50However, like the issues with the post-production cycle, these hopes were dashed in order to
07:54reach the unyielding deadline.
07:56The post-production team for Annihilation was spread all over the globe, but despite
08:00the production's global talent reach, the visual effects were not completed in time
08:04to meet the studio's release date.
08:06This failure to meet the anticipated deadline did not deter the studio from proceeding with
08:10the movie's theatrical release, much to Kasanoff's chagrin.
08:13In Lights, Camera, Game Over, Kasanoff admits that the visual effects in Annihilation remain
08:17unfinished to this day, with the studio deeming them, quote, "'good enough' at the time."
08:22"...pretty cool, huh?"
08:32With expectations riding high for Annihilation to meet its November 1997 release date, the
08:37studio estimated the unfinished film would make better business releasing on time than
08:41delaying the premiere to complete its effects.
08:44Though Lambert did not reprise his role as Raiden for Annihilation, the actor was considered
08:48to return to the franchise for a canceled follow-up.
08:51In an August 2016 interview with Loaded, Lambert revealed he had read a script for a proposed
08:55third film, and in contrast to Annihilation, he enjoyed the planned sequel's screenplay,
09:00though it's unclear if the script that Lambert read was the same one seen by Shue or Ashby.
09:05According to Lambert, the next Mortal Kombat film would have bent the rules of space and
09:09time, with fighters traveling through time to totally different locations in the midst
09:12of battle.
09:13The planned film may have been part of New Line's attempts to revive the franchise, as
09:17a reboot was announced in 2011 with Kevin Tancharoen attached to direct.
09:21In November 2016, Simon McKeoy was hired to helm what would eventually become the 2021
09:26Mortal Kombat reboot, discarding any plans for a sequel to Annihilation, along with Lambert's
09:31potential return.
09:33After directing the 1995 Mortal Kombat, Paul W.S. Anderson would go on to helm different
09:38video game film adaptations, including Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.
09:43Anderson was appalled at how the cinematic world he had helped introduce in the first
09:47Mortal Kombat was diminished by its sequel.
09:49This observation would affect how Anderson approached his management of the Resident
09:53Evil franchise, with the filmmaker intent on taking a more hands-on role to ensure a
09:57consistent level of quality.
09:58In Light's Camera Game Over, he shared,
10:00"...it made me think differently about how you create a franchise, and one of the things
10:04strong franchises have is a strong creative team behind them that stayed the same.
10:08I felt with Mortal Kombat, I started a franchise, and then the sequel ended the franchise."
10:13"...Mother, you're alive."
10:17"...Too bad, you will die."
10:22Anderson produced and wrote every installment of the Resident Evil series, and directed
10:25four of the movies.
10:27He has credited at least some of this grand design to the knowledge of what Kombat became,
10:30saying,
10:31"...the problems I had this time around were the reasons I didn't want to go back for the
10:34sequel."
10:35The original Mortal Kombat video game was created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, with Boon
10:40remaining alongside the franchise throughout its lengthy history.
10:43Boon has voiced the character Scorpion since the 1991 game, reprising his voiceover role
10:48as the masked ninja warrior for both the 1995 film and Annihilation.
10:53Despite voicing the character in Annihilation, Boon regards the 1997 film as the franchise's
10:58lowest point, stance shared by Tobias.
11:00In a 2012 interview for Complex looking back on the entire history and legacy of the Mortal
11:04Kombat franchise, Boon kept his analysis succinct, saying he was not a fan of Annihilation.
11:09Tobias, meanwhile, is credited as a contributing co-writer to the story of Annihilation, along
11:14with Kasanoff and Joshua Wexler.
11:17Friedman and Bryce Sable are credited for the screenplay.
11:19In an online Q&A, Tobias similarly listed Annihilation as his least favorite Mortal
11:24Kombat memory, and recalled seeing rough cuts of the film-drawing production that drove
11:28home a sharp drop in cinematic quality.