EXCLUSIVE: After the most recent pic overachieved at box-office, New Line is ready to get back in to the arena on a new Mortal Kombat pic as sources tell Deadline, Simon McQuoid is set to return as director to the sequel to New Line’s hit 2021 action adventure. Mortal Kombat was McQuoid’s feature directorial debut and was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max during the pandemic in April 2021.

The featured opened number one at the box office and ranks among the top feature titles ever on HBO Max since the platform launched. While some point to F9 or A Quiet Place Part 2 as to when audiences returned to theaters post-pandemic, Mortal Kombat was one of the early features to take a crack to seeing audiences’ interest in returning to theaters and the results surprised many, especially since the film premiered day-and-date on HBO Max as well. Execs were quick to get a sequel in development and one of the first orders of business was bringing McQuoid back to direct.

The film is based on the global video game phenomenon created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Jeremy Slater is writing the screenplay for the sequel.

The 2021 pic was produced by Atomic Monster’s James Wan, Broken Road Production’s Todd Garner, Simon McQuoid, and E. Bennett Walsh. McQuoid directed from a screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, from a story by Oren Uziel and Russo, based on the video game created by Ed Boon and John Tobias.  Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Victoria Palmeri, Michael Clear, Jeremy Stein and Larry Kasanoff served as executive producers.

A native of Perth, Australia, McQuoid, a trained graphic designer, began his career working in ad agencies across both Australia and the USA, and then moved into directing commercials. Simon’s work for Xbox, PlayStation, Call of Duty and Halo 3 collectively won him a multitude of awards, including the Film Grand Prix at Cannes and a Grand Clio. He made his feature debut with Mortal Kombat and has several projects in development including the reality warping sci-fi thriller Omega for Sony.

McQuoid is repped Daniel Cohan and attorney Gregory Slewitt