It’s a franchise you just can’t keep down and now it’s coming back in an interesting form with an Internet distributed live action series. The new show is set to air through the Machinima’s YouTube channel starting on April 12th and they’re backing up the scale of their viewership by saying that they have over 50 million monthly viewers to the programming on their channel, which is very gaming oriented so it would be a perfect match for this particular property. While it is a net series, it’s not skimping in some ways as it does have some name players to it, such as Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White and more. With the series set to premiere next week, Warner Bros. has let loose with the first clip from it in order to entice you to come back for more. Check it out below and the official press release.
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Machinima.com today announced they have signed an agreement to premiere and distribute the highly anticipated “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” live action digital series produced by Warner Premiere. Directed by Kevin Tancharoen (“Fame”), and starring Jeri Ryan (“Star Trek: Voyager”) as “Sonya Blade,” Michael Jai White (“The Dark Knight”) as “Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs” and Darren Shahlavi (“300”) as “Kano,” this series will take gamers deep into the history of the warriors they know and love.
The first action-packed episode of “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” will debut April 12 exclusively on Machinima, the dominant entertainment network for videogamers on YouTube (www.youtube.com/machinima). Fans from around the world will be able to watch and engage with the entire “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” series through Machinima’s YouTube channel.
“With over 500 million monthly video views and 50 million monthly viewers, Machinima has the world’s most highly-engaged gaming audience, which makes this agreement with Warner Bros. such a great fit,” said Allen DeBevoise, Chairman and CEO of Machinima, Inc. “Mortal Kombat is an epic franchise with a rich story and characters, we’re truly excited to bring ‘Mortal Kombat: Legacy’ to our community. With our global scale and reach, we can now drive greater engagement and viewership than anyone for entertainment properties that fit our young, male-centric demo. Kevin’s new incarnation of the Mortal Kombat franchise is precisely the type of world-class, high-octane action content that our audience will love.”
Kevin Tancharoen who directed and produced the popular, unofficial “Mortal Kombat: Rebirth” fan short, is bringing the same immersive directing style to this live-action digital series. Kevin Tancharoen who directed and produced the popular, unofficial “Mortal Kombat: Rebirth” fan short, is bringing the same immersive directing style to this live-action digital series. “Machinima is the perfect entertainment destination to premiere the series,” said Kevin Tancharoen, Director, Producer and co-writer of “Mortal Kombat: Legacy.” “They have a massive audience of gamers from around the world. We worked very closely with NetherRealm Studios and Ed Boon, and we’re now putting the finishing touches on the episodes. I’m confident we’ve stayed true to the Mortal Kombat lore and am hoping the fans will be blown away by what they see.”
Also on April 12, in a lead up to the series premiere, Machinima will host Kevin Tancharoen and cast from the series in a special live event. Details will be announced on Machinima.com soon.
Written by Kevin Tancharoen, Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing, “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” is an anthology of nine live action shorts, and brings to life the motivation behind each character’s participation in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Each episode will provide never-before-revealed insights into characters featured in the upcoming videogame as well as the game’s universe.
The latest iteration of the award-winning videogame, “Mortal Kombat,” marks a triumphant return to the series’ mature presentation and a reinvention of its classic 2D fighting mechanic. Driven by an all new graphics engine, the fan favorite Fatality is back and presented in more gory detail than ever before. In addition, “Mortal Kombat” introduces a number of new game-play features including tag team and a deep story mode. “Mortal Kombat” is being developed by NetherRealm Studios, led by “Mortal Kombat” creator and creative director Ed Boon.
