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Karl Urban’s $80M Action Sequel Disappointed in Theaters. Now It’s a Huge Streaming Success on HBO Max

It is dominating other movies right now.

By Anthony Lund Aug 6th, 2026, 5:44 am

Earlier this year, Mortal Kombat II introduced Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage to the movie franchise, but even that wasn’t enough to secure the box office hit Warner Bros. was hoping for. Fortunately the R-rated action sequel is now kicking up a storm on HBO Max, according to FlixPatrol.

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Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie didn’t receive a fair run at the box office but was a hit on streaming. A sequel was quickly green-lit and was originally set for release in October 2025. Warner Bros. then delayed the movie at the last minute to give it a May 2026 release instead.

On paper, Mortal Kombat II should have been a comfortable hit. It landed the best reviews of the franchise, with a 64% score on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a strong 86% audience rating. It opened with the highest debut in the franchise’s history, though closed out its run as a relative box office disappointment, making $129 million against an $80 million budget.

Mortal Kombat II is another example of streaming redemption

Now the movie is finding redemption on HBO Max, holding a global number one position since debuting on the platform on July 24. Just like many other movies of the last five years, Mortal Kombat II has proven there’s a huge audience out there, but they did not show up to cinemas in May. This resulted in many branding the movie a failure based only on box office numbers.

Mortal Kombat II had plenty of elements that should have made it a must-see on the big screen, both for newcomers to the franchise and those who had waited decades to see Mortal Kombat deliver a truly brutal affair. The sequel delivered the tournament that director Simon McQuoid had promised and didn’t spare on the bloody, chaotic finishing moves fans love.

Now those fans are showing their love for not only this movie but its predecessor, which has also jumped up into second place on the HBO Max chart. Even the heavily panned 1995 adaptation starring Christopher Lambert has managed to fight its way into the chart, all of which seems to strengthen the case for a potential third movie that was teased by McQuoid.

Plenty of movies have found a second life on streaming after failing to attract much attention during their cinema run. Arguably, the streaming performance of franchises like Mortal Kombat is now a higher priority than their big-screen success.

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Anthony Lund

Anthony Lund has spent more years than he would like to remember getting lost in movies, TV shows and toys. For that reason, writing on the subject comes naturally after more than 20 years working in and around the entertainment industry. In a time long forgotten, Anthony has written for WhatCulture, ComicBook, several defunct publications and sites, and spent 5 years with MovieWeb. A child of the 80s, he is the owner of almost 2000 books, more toys than his children, three Warner Bros. Store Gremlins and a production used Howard The Duck movie script. He has built up a deep knowledge of movie trivia, iconic quotes, and will stand by his belief that Aliens beats The Empire Strikes Back and Terminator 2 as the greatest sequel of all time.