‘Mortal Kombat II’ leads US box office with $17M opening day

Warner Bros. Pictures’ "Mortal Kombat II" opened to a strong $17 million in the US on Friday, May 8, taking the top spot at the box office on its opening day.

The video game sequel grossed $40 million over its three-day opening weekend from 3,503 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo, marking the biggest opening in the Mortal Kombat film installment. That tops the $23 million debut of the 2021 film.

With an $80 million production budget (up from the previous film’s $55 million), as reported by Variety, the sequel opened with a solid start that supports ongoing expansion of the rebooted franchise, with a third installment already in development.

Directed by Simon McQuoid and written by Jeremy Slater, the film continues the story of Earthrealm’s champions as they face Shao Kahn and his forces. The cast includes returning stars Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, and Lewis Tan, alongside newcomers Karl Urban as Johnny Cage and Tati Gabrielle as Jade.

On Friday’s domestic box office chart, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” ranked second with $9.8 million on its second Friday, followed by the Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” in third with $8.8 million on its third Friday.

Two new releases also entered the top five: “Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D” opened in fourth with $4.5 million, while “The Sheep Detectives” rounded out the list in fifth with $4.01 million.