After a promising opening weekend, Mortal Kombat II has quickly lost steam at the box office, ultimately grossing roughly $125 million globally. That figure puts it behind one of the most infamous fantasy flops of the past decade: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which earned $90 million domestically in 2010.
The sequel to 2021's Mortal Kombat reboot arrived with high expectations, especially after the first film overcame a day-and-date HBO Max release to earn over $80 million worldwide on a $55 million budget. That streaming success convinced Warner Bros. to greenlight a bigger, bolder follow-up.
Director Simon McQuoid returned for Mortal Kombat II, which brought in Karl Urban as fan-favorite Johnny Cage alongside returning cast members Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, and Mehcad Brooks. Shōgun stars Tadanobu Asano and Hiroyuki Sanada also reprised their roles. The studio bumped the budget to $80 million, and the film opened strong with $38 million domestically.
But the momentum didn't last. Three consecutive weekends of steep drops followed, and after a month in theaters, the movie's domestic total sits at around $77 million—dangerously close to the $73 million earned by the 1995 Mortal Kombat film. Adjusted for inflation, the new movie actually drew fewer ticket buyers than Paul W.S. Anderson's original.
Worse still, Mortal Kombat II has fallen short of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a 2010 video game adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal that cost over $200 million to produce and was widely considered a commercial disappointment. That film earned $90 million domestically and failed to launch a franchise. Mortal Kombat II needed to gross at least $150 million worldwide to break even after marketing costs, making its $125 million total a clear miss.
Critics have been kinder to Mortal Kombat II than to Prince of Persia—the sequel holds a 64% Rotten Tomatoes score—but box office numbers don't lie. The film's performance echoes other big-budget fantasy sequels that underwhelmed, like those explored in our piece From Flops to Favorites: 10 Box Office Bombs That Became Masterpieces.
For now, Mortal Kombat II remains in theaters, but its theatrical run has already peaked. Whether the franchise can recover on streaming—as the first film did—remains to be seen. For more on fantasy adaptations that defied expectations, check out Beyond Middle-earth: 3 Fantasy Masterpieces That Outshine Lord of the Rings.
