Mortal Kombat Writer Is Adapting Another Video Game, And Sign Me Up

This year's Mortal Kombat movie wasn't the breakthrough video game adaptation that fans have wanted to see at the movies, but it was a solid effort that many found entertaining. While most people probably saw the movie on HBO Max rather than in theaters, it's a film that probably would have done well at the box office under normal circumstances. Perhaps that is why the man who wrote Mortal Kombat, Greg Russo, has now been tapped to take on another video game project. While Russo isn't revealing what the movie is just yet, he says it's a project based on one of the greatest first-person-shooter games of all-time. What's more, Russo will not only write the movie but will also direct it.

Greg Russo returned to Twitter for the first time since May to reveal to fans that he on the verge of closing a deal to both write and direct a movie based on another video game property. He'll be shifting from a fighting game to a first-person-shooter, and it's a title that gamers will certainly know, though it would seem until the deal is actually done, we won't be getting too many details. Russo said on Twitter...

Long time no tweet. Excited to say I’m closing a deal to adapt one of the greatest FPS games of all time but not just to write, to DIRECT this time! Excited for some creative control ;) … Details coming real soon. Big love.

If we're talking about one of the great FPS games of all-time, there are a few titles that spring to mind pretty quickly. Wolfenstein 3D is credited with popularizing the genre of the FPS in the first place. The original game has you killing Nazi's in WWII, including ultimately killing Hitler in a giant mech suit, and who doesn't want to see that on the big screen? Wolfenstein gave birth to Doom, which has been adapted into a film once before, but that was over 15 years ago, and it wasn't that well received, so a reboot wouldn't be out of the question.

There are many other possibilities. There was talk of a whole Call of Duty cinematic universe a few years ago, but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps this idea is now moving forward again. Something like Halo seems unlikely as that property has been part of an ongoing television project, though it's been delayed multiple times over the years.

What maybe even more interesting than Greg Russo's announcement of a new game adaptation project, is his comment that, by directing this feature he's excited to have creative control. It's fairly clear that the Mortal Kombat movie went through some changes from page to screen, and one wonders if this is a reference to some of that.

It's likely Greg Russo wouldn't have tweeted about this if he wasn't confident the deal will go through, so we'll likely learn what game this new movie will be based on very soon.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.