Mortal Kombat film producer files suit against Midway

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jun 25th 2009 at 3:30PM }

With Midway reportedly looking to sell off its Mortal Kombat assets, one concerned party hopes to peer underneath the tent the beleaguered publisher has pitched inside the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and settle the sticky issue of intellectual property ownership. Film producer Lawrence Kasanoff and his company, Threshold Entertainment, have filed a suit in the hopes of eliciting judgment "declaring the existence and scope of its licenses, interests and intellectual property rights in Mortal Kombat-related intellectual property." In other words: "Hey, isn't that some of my stuff in this garage sale?"

It is the suit's assertion that the Mortal Kombat franchise is "far more a creation of Threshold and Kasanoff than of Midway," with Threshold's film adaptations and TV shows allegedly signifying more creative input than that of Midway, which was "almost entirely limited to the videogames." That's right! Bet you didn't know that Mortal Kombat was a "videogame" before it became an award-winning film franchise!

Threshold backs up its claims by pointing out the "minimal back-story and mythology" provided by the games, as well as the "flat, cookie-cutter characters" it had to use as a basis for its derivative works. Indeed, anybody who's seen "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" is sure to agree that the 78 characters in that rich, compelling film -- including the cyborg and the lizard guy -- were so much more fleshed out right until they all died or something.

[Via GamePolitics]

Source -- Complaint (warning: PDF)

Tags: Fighting, Lawrence-Kasanoff, Lawsuit, Lolsuit, Midway, Mortal-Kombat, Mortal-Kombat-Annihilation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

216 @ Jun 25th 2009 3:34PM

lol so basically they are claiming that they invented Mortal Kombat and therefor are entitled to $$

Crazy-008 @ Jun 25th 2009 4:00PM

I invinted the phrase "don't go there"... where is my royalty check?

Crazy-008 @ Jun 25th 2009 4:01PM

Too bad I didn't invent spell check...:-(

Dy-lon @ Jun 25th 2009 4:17PM

This guy's just hoping the judge, and anyone else involved knows jack-shit about the franchise in order to get a quick pay day. Maybe nobody will notice that the films drew heavily on the games, annihilation was like 2 and 3 rolled into one, and hilariously bad. I think Uwe Bowle ( forgive the spelling) could start a suit of his own over all the bad game-related films he's made.

Zexion_VI @ Jun 25th 2009 3:36PM

I played Mortal Kombat! I am entitled to assets too!!!!!

Snowblind @ Jun 25th 2009 3:38PM

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Too bad it wasn't supposed to be a comedy. So many classic lines..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt0VY7Yg2w

Storm Eagle @ Jun 25th 2009 3:43PM

BRILLIANT!

Storm Eagle @ Jun 25th 2009 3:47PM

I still weep for Johnny Cage. He had to have the record for shortest life of any main movie character in a sequel. Usually they kill people towards the end of a movie. Not in the first 4 seconds, lol.

Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ Jun 25th 2009 6:29PM

Suckers!

Christ-ian @ Jun 25th 2009 3:39PM

Where's the SNL dudes when you need them? I'll try my best...

Really???

Storm Eagle @ Jun 25th 2009 3:45PM

I think at this point, the above image should be Jaws eating Scorpion, and then throwing him up only to piss on the remains.

The plot thickens.....

joshua.nash @ Jun 25th 2009 3:45PM

man this guy has a set of balls claiming that he is the reason that MK is so popular, and he's also a total asshole cause now he chooses to sue right when midway is on its last legs, i hope this fucker loses and he just goes away, also i wonder what the real creators of MK think of this guy claiming the he is the creative power behind MK

Snowblind @ Jun 25th 2009 3:54PM

The TV series Conquest was actually pretty decent.. But again, I don't think think any of these shows/movies were particularly popular, and they certainly didn't do anything for the characters, they were all heavily based on the the games story and didn't really tell us or make them do anything we didn't already know.

Finding out Noob Saibot was the original Sub-Zero in MK Deception for example, was far deeper than anything these movies did.

Onomah @ Jun 25th 2009 3:51PM

I don't think that I could get through Thursdays without Bullsh*t like this to lift my spirits.

BunnySlapper @ Jun 25th 2009 3:52PM

Uh, 'Award Winning film franchise'?

The only one to get an award is the first Mortal Kombat in 1995, which got 1 award. For music. I hardly think that classifies as defining the IP.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113855/awards

Storm Eagle @ Jun 25th 2009 3:54PM

Had no idea it won ANY awards. Doesn't seem like it's a significant one though. I've never heard of BMI.

XBL: Burritoclock PSN:Herbie Hat @ Jun 25th 2009 4:26PM

It appears your sarcasm detector has malfunction, you should probably bring it in to the Sarcasm detector shop and get some repairs done. Unless it's under warranty, in which case you should probably get $ar-Corp to send you a box to ship it back to them in.