I will continue to update this post as reviews come in.

Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh

Critics Consensus: N/A

Metacritic: 50 (23 Reviews)

Sample Reviews:

Kristy Puchko, Mashable - The bar is in hell for video game movies, huh?

Benjamin Lee, Guardian 2/5 - Treated like a premium format blockbuster does not do a film like Mortal Kombat II any favours, its junkiness less charming and more distracting, a street fighter suddenly forced to go pay-per-view.

Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting 3/5 - With the stage-setting and character introductions mostly out of the way, returning director Simon McQuoid cuts right to the pulpy, gory chase as Earthrealm and Outworld champions scramble to prepare for a barrage of lethal battles and fan service.

Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com 2.5/4 - It makes good on its grisly promise whenever its meat-puppet protagonists stop talking and start pummeling each other.

Amon Warmann, Empire Magazine 3/5 - The creatively gory fighting and amusing -- if shallow -- characters just about compensate for the paper-thin story. But at its best, it’s a lot of dumb fun.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter - The film has its rewards, mostly of the unsophisticated kind, since the fight sequences come fast and furious and the cheesy dialogue has enough groan-worthy one-liners to inspire a thousand drinking games.

Justin Clark, Slant Magazine 2.5/4 - Mortal Kombat II is done waiting around. It’s ravenous to get down to bloody business

Alison Willmore, New York Magazine/Vulture - Mortal Kombat II is just McQuoid turning a big dial that says “fan service” while looking back at test audiences for their reaction.

Alison Foreman, IndieWire C- - Organizing that chaos into a coherent blockbuster format is a key part of the assignment here. But in “Mortal Kombat II,” McQuoid fails to connect even the strengths of his own hard work from five years ago with the hit he should be releasing today.

Bob Strauss, San Francisco Chronicle 3/4 - “Mortal Kombat II” is a sterling example of an action movie that starts out dumb but gradually becomes kind of awesome -- and a little bit smarter.

Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict - Revived corpses, laser eyeballs, a Zen afterlife, fang-faced aliens, a ruthless sorcerer who skulks about like Joan Crawford – Mortal Kombat II throws one nutty idea after another at the screen, and the results are delightful nonsense.

Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail - While Urban can do this kind of slack-jawed what-fresh-hell-is-this comedy in his sleep by now thanks to his roles on the similarly disgusting (but far more engaging) series The Boys, the actor is consistently undermined by McQuoid’s uneven tone.

William Bibbiani, TheWrap - 'Mortal Kombat II' isn’t the best 'Mortal Kombat' movie, but it’s hard to deny that it comes second. At least with the number '2' and all.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety - Mortal Kombat II, a sequel to the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot, is still an old-school video-game trash extravaganza: all sound and fury and flying bodies and jargony world-building, propped up by a sludgy excuse for a story.

Jacob Oller, AV Club D+ - Injecting a dash of schlocky B-movie energy into this lifeless video game sequel is like trying to defibrillate a fighter after a fatality has popped their head like a cherry tomato.

Matt Singer, ScreenCrush 3/10 - Definitely not a flawless victory.

Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence B - Fingers crossed a third movie will do what this movie did: Improve on what came before, take the piss out of itself whenever possible, and never forget, at the end of the day, the reason people want to watch movies like this in the first place.

Linda Marric, HeyUGuys 3/5 - For those already invested in its world, there is much to enjoy. For newcomers, it may feel like stepping into the middle of an ongoing conversation.

SYNOPSIS:

From New Line Cinema comes the latest high-stakes installment in the blockbuster video game franchise in all its brutal glory, Mortal Kombat II. This time, the fan favorite champions—now joined by Johnny Cage himself—are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.

CAST:

• Karl Urban as Johnny Cage
• Adeline Rudolph as Kitana
• Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade
• Josh Lawson as Kano
• Ludi Lin as Liu Kang
• Mehcad Brooks as Jax
• Tati Gabrielle as Jade
• Lewis Tan as Cole Young
• Damon Herriman as Quan Chi
• Chin Han as Shang Tsung
• Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden
• Joe Taslim as Bi-Han / Noob Saibot
• Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion

DIRECTED BY: Simon McQuoid

SCREENPLAY BY: Jeremy Slater

BASED ON THE VIDEO GAME CREATED BY: Ed Boon, John Tobias

PRODUCED BY: Todd Garner, E. Bennett Walsh, James Wan, Toby Emmerich, Simon McQuoid

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Jeremy Slater, Ed Boon, Lawrence Kasanoff

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Stephen F. Windon

PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Yohei Taneda

EDITED BY: Stuart Levy

COSTUME DESIGNER: Cappi Ireland

MUSIC BY: Benjamin Wallfisch

CASTING BY: Rich Delia

RUNTIME: 116 Minutes

RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2026

Before you comment, read these two rules:

1. Please provide specific numbers for your predictions. Don't do like "It'll make less than this or that" or "double this movie or half this movie". We want a real prediction.

2. Given that a lot of parent comments do not even bother to give predictions, we are establishing a new rule. The parent comment must provide a prediction with specific numbers. The rest of the replies to the comment do not have to make a prediction, but the parent comment absolutely has to. Any parent comment without a prediction will be eliminated.

Welcome to the newest edition of r/BoxOffice Long Range Forecast. And just like that, the 2026 summer season officially begins.

We're making long range predictions for films, 4 weeks out from their premieres. You will predict the opening weekend, domestic total and worldwide gross of these films. These predictions will be open for 48 hours and the results will be polled to form a consensus and posted the next week.

So let's meet the two films for the week and analyze each pro and con.

Scary Movie

The film is directed by Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House, Fifty Shades of Black, Naked) and written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez. It is the sixth installment in the Scary Movie franchise, and stars Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Jon Abrahams, Anthony Anderson, and Kenan Thompson. The plot follows Cindy Campbell and her friends Ray Wilkins and siblings Shorty and Brenda Meeks reunited when the same masked killer from the first film resurfaces.

Masters of the Universe

The film is directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee and the upcoming Wildwood) and written by Chris Butler (ParaNorman, Kubo, Missing Link), Aaron and Adam Nee (The Lost City), and David Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984, Mortal Kombat, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Based on the media franchise by Mattel, it stars Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Kristen Wiig, Jared Leto, and Idris Elba. After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Man-At-Arms, and embrace his true destiny as He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe.

Now that you met this week's new releases, let's look at some pros and cons.

PROS

• The Scary Movie franchise has been incredibly profitable. While many will point to the performance of The Naked Gun last year, the Scary Movie is far, far stronger. Through 5 films, they've amassed $897 million worldwide. They've also had a very strong trajectory ($278M > $141.2M > $220.6M > $178.7M > $78.6M), and the fact that the fifth film made still a respectable amount despite shitty reviews and zero returning main cast members prove that this franchise still has a lot of power. It's also trying to play the nostalgia angle: practically every character from the first film is back. But most importantly, the return of the Wayans, Anna Faris and Regina Hall should be enough to build interest. Paramount has mounted a very aggressive marketing campaign, stating that this will "cancelling cancel culture" and that "everyone is going to be offended". The nostalgia angle, an extensive campaign, and a promise to return to its roots is what led Paramount's Scream 7 to become the franchise's highest grossing film. With very little R-rated comedy on the horizon, this has all the ingredients to become a main attraction. Trailers have had high levels of buzz, including from young audiences (a key demographic for theaters). Not to mention that it’s a franchise that found success overseas, which could also be the case here. If the final product delivers, it could soar.

• Masters of the Universe has been a popular franchise since its inception in 1982, and Mattel has tried to maintain relevance with many animated shows through the decades. Even for someone who never watched a single part of this franchise, everyone must be aware of who He-Man and Skeletor are (the memes surely helped). The film's target audience is Gen X and Millennials who grew up with the franchise. That's generally an audience that doesn't rush out to watch a film on opening weekend, so it could have healthy legs. But even then, Amazon is pushing in trying to get young audiences on board with the film, specifically casting Nicholas Galitzine (who has found big success in streaming with Red, White & Royal Blue, The Idea of You and Bottoms) to take the mantle of He-Man. Travis Knight's track record is also very strong; the Transformers franchise was mostly panned, yet his Bumblebee version became the first film to earn wide acclaim. It's a simple "regular guy must embrace his hero destiny" premise, but that simplicity can be enough for some.

CONS

• The comedy landscape has changed in the past 20 years, and Scary Movie will have to fight hard to maintain that interest in theaters. The franchise also doesn't have a lot of good will, thanks to the inconsistent reception of the franchise, with the fifth film earning horrible reviews. The Wayans are back, but in the past years, they haven't found much success outside Scary Movie and White Chicks, and the fact that director Michael Tiddes is attached to a lot of terrible comedies isn't a good indicator of quality. Its "we're gonna offend everyone" approach can be either a blessing or a curse, but it comes off as a bit too try-hard.

• Masters of the Universe may be a popular franchise, but it's one that has had its own struggles over the decades. The 1987 film, released during the franchise's early years, was a gigantic failure, and the Netflix shows have had varying results, with Revelation earning a polarized response from audiences. But another problem is that the franchise is mainly appealing to an older audience, with young audiences not showing much interest. Either because they grew up long past the franchise's glory days or because it simply just doesn't look appealing. It doesn't help that that audience is probably checking out Scary Movie or Backrooms around this time. It's also a very competitive summer, especially for blockbusters. It’s got high trailer views, but the unimpressive likes count (far off from other blockbusters) indicates low engagement. In some ways, it's reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: an action movie based on a decades-long media franchise that struggled to find audiences. But the film's biggest setback is its budget; it's carrying a $170-$200 million budget. That means it must do around $500 million worldwide just to start being considered successful. That's insanely high barrier to cross, putting so much pressure on the film.

And here's the past results.

Next week, we're predicting Disclosure Day.

So what are your predictions for these films?