TedStixon

Trivia: One of only two films co-written by producer Lawrence Kasanoff, who also produced the original movie. The other film he co-wrote is the animated film "Foodfight!" Both that film and this film are notorious for their low quality.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film notoriously recast many of its main characters. Linden Ashby, who co-starred in the original as Johnny Cage, hated the script and refused to return - hence his character getting recast and unceremoniously killed off in the first scene. Bridgette Wilson, whom played Sonya Blade in the first film, similarly turned down the chance to reappear. Christopher Lambert, whom played Rayden in the original wanted to return, but was unable to free up enough time as he was working on another film.

TedStixon

Trivia: As unbelievable as it sounds given the almost ridiculous amount of characters in the movie, several other characters from the games were in the film in early cuts, but were removed from the finished film for timing and pacing reasons. This notably includes Quan Chi, one of the villains of the series, who was going to appear in the film in several scenes including the climax. His content was removed, but behind-the-scenes photos and videos of an actor in makeup for the role can be found online.

TedStixon

Trivia: Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed the first film, was offered the chance to direct again, but had to turn it down. He has stated that this is one of his biggest regrets, as he hated this movie, and felt that if he had returned, he could have helped steer it in the right direction.

TedStixon

Trivia: There have been many jokes made about the amount of backflips in this film since its release. In actuality, if you total up all of the flips (including front, back, sideways, etc.), there are over 50 flips in the film - or almost one for every 90 seconds of screentime.

TedStixon

Trivia: The entire Liu Kang vs "Human Reptile" fight and the second half of Johnny Cage and Scorpion's fight (taking place in the underground necropolis) were added in reshoots after test-audiences reacted very positively to the film and especially the action. The studio decided to spend extra money to add more action to the movie and give fans more of what they wanted.

TedStixon

Trivia: For many years, there was a longstanding rumor that Brandon Lee had been cast as Johnny Cage before his unfortunate death on the set of "The Crow." Director Paul WS Anderson has since confirmed that the rumor wasn't true.

TedStixon

Trivia: The director on the set of Johnny Cage's movie bears a pretty striking resemblance to cinematic legend Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, who famously is a big fan of video-games, was reportedly approached to film a cameo, but was unable to free up the time. Thus a lookalike was cast as a bit of an inside joke.

TedStixon

Trivia: Brief mentions are made of Liu Kang being a descendant of a warrior named Kung Lao, and a statue of Kung Lao can be seen faintly in the courtyard that is filled with statues. In the games, Kung Lao is actually the name of two characters - one an ancient and famous warrior, and the second one of his descendants, whom is both related to and good friends with Liu.

TedStixon

Trivia: The original script reportedly had much more violence, which the studio had removed for a PG-13 rating. The original script also made Liu Kang and Princess Kitana's potential romance a bigger focus, whereas in the finished film, it's more subtle and implied, and the romance doesn't fully play out. (Although they are implied to be in love and entering into a relationship by the end of the sequel).

TedStixon

Trivia: Raiden is voiced by Clancy Brown, whom portrayed the villain in the movie "Highlander." In the 1995 "Mortal Kombat" movie, Raiden is played by Christopher Lambert, whom played the hero in "Highlander."

TedStixon

Trivia: This series was intended to serve as a "sequel" to the 1995 feature-film, though it was later disregarded by the theatrical sequel "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation."

TedStixon

Trivia: The Red Queen is played by child-actor Ever Anderson. Anderson is the daughter of star Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson, who are married.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film was originally meant to be filmed in 2013 and released in 2014. Filming had to be delayed due to star Milla Jovovich becoming pregnant and writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson (Jovovich's husband) opting to take time off to help raise the new baby before he started work on the script.

TedStixon

Trivia: Had the longest gap between sequels for the series, at just over four years since the release of the prior film. Each of the prior five films was released 2-3 years apart.

TedStixon

Trivia: A number of prominent YouTube creators appear in the film as zombies in one sequence (albeit they are hard to spot, as they are under heavy makeup) - they were offered cameos in the film as part of a fun cross-promotion.

TedStixon

Trivia: The first film in the series has several allusions to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." As a nod to that, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson subtle modeled the first creature Alice battles - a flying, dragon-like being - after the "Jabberwocky" from the sequel novel "Alice Through the Looking Glass."

TedStixon

Trivia: The film's overseas title in many countries is "Die Hard 4.0" - the "point-oh" in the title being a reference to how software often goes through different variations and updates. (1.0, 2.0, 2.1, etc.) Series star Bruce Willis has stated that although the film was released as "Live Free or Die Hard" in the US, he far prefers the "Die Hard 4.0" title, as it's clearer in indicating that the film is a "Die Hard" movie through and through.

TedStixon

Trivia: Tim Miller, who directed the original film, left production early on and was replaced by "John Wick" co-directer David Leitch. Reportedly, Miller and star Ryan Reynolds had vastly different visions for the sequel, and Miller was already in early prep for the next "Terminator" film, so the two amicably agreed that Miller should step away and allow a new director to take over.

TedStixon

Trivia: "Avengers: Infinity War" holds several prestigious box-office records. Among others, it has the highest ever domestic opening weekend (at $257.6 million), the highest worldwide gross for a comic-book movie (at just over $2 billion as of 6/12/18), and is the fastest movie to gross $1 billion globally, reaching the number in just 11 days of release. It is also the only film ever released during the Summer movie season to hit $2 billion globally, and one of only four movies to ever reach the $2 billion mark. (The three others were holiday releases).

TedStixon