Mortal Kombat movie and Venom 2 release dates pushed back

Both the Mortal Kombat movie and Venom: Let There Be Carnage have had their release dates pushed back another week.

Mortal Kombat will now debut in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23 instead of April 16, while the Venom sequel is now set for theatrical release on September 24 instead of September 17. 

In the case of Mortal Kombat, this could be because of the release of Godzilla vs. Kong – it wouldn't make sense for Warner Bros. to pit another of its movies against the best performing pandemic release at the international box office. 

The long-awaited video game adaptation has Aquaman director James Wan on board as producer and promises to push its R rating to the limit – and we know we can expect something more than just another video game movie. "I don’t look at it as a video game movie. I look at it as a martial arts movie," producer Todd Garner recently told GamesRadar+. "There’s much more successful roads to making a good martial arts movie. There’s been loads and loads of them – and not so many good video game movies." It seems like it'll be worth the wait.

Meanwhile, with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the change ensures enough space between the debut of the Marvel antihero sequel and other big name releases coming out this summer, like James Gunn's upcoming The Suicide Squad. Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock (AKA Venom), alongside Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, and Naomie Harris. 

While we wait for the two blockbusters to finally hit the big (and small) screen, check out our list of the other upcoming movies to get excited about this year. And if you don't have a subscription yet, you can find the best HBO Max prices here.