10 Upcoming Movies That Have Already Been Saved From Sucking

The Original Pitch

Mortal Kombat has been turned into a movie before, and the results... weren't so great. So, in the early 2010s, the idea of a reboot entered the conversation, with Kevin Tancharoen - who had just released an unofficial short film set in the Mortal Kombat universe - rumoured to be up for the directing job. In 2011, this was confirmed, with Oren Uziel appointed as scriptwriter.

Tancharoen's short was well-received, but there's a massive difference between an eight-minute fan-film and a major Hollywood blockbuster, and it was risky to hand him the reigns. As for Uziel, he's the definition of hit and miss: he worked on 22 Jump Street (with a team of writers), but also delivered The Cloverfield Paradox (as the sole writer). A Mortal Kombat film from these guys really could have gone either way.

How It's Been Saved

When Tancharoen left the project a few years ago, it looked like the movie was dead in the water, but it was resurrected in 2015, with none other than James Wan signing on to shepherd the whole thing.

Wan is a producer and director within the Conjuring Universe, along with helming Aquaman, Furious 7, Saw, and Insidious. He practically never misses, and it's always a good sign when he dedicates some of his time to a project. Plus - after making something as silly as Aquaman work on the big screen - his geek cred is off the charts, and a Mortal Kombat movie with his guiding hand should, at least, be watchable.