If it weren’t for Kevin Tancharoen’s misunderstanding of YouTube, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth may have remained hidden from the public eye forever.
The public release of the mystery live-action Mortal Kombat trailer that appeared on YouTube last year, which is now becoming a webseries, was a surprise even to its director Kevin Tancharoen. It’s not that somebody stole the footage for Mortal Kombat: Rebirth and uploaded it online, but that Tancharoen put it on YouTube and forgot to set a private flag.
Tancharoen recently talked to Gamasutra where he revealed that this small mistake led to his new official association with the Mortal Kombat franchise. “I am not the most technically savvy YouTube person,” Tancharoen said.
Rebirth wasn’t even done yet, but was exposed to the world when Tancharoen only wanted to share it with a friend. The friend suggested a private YouTube page, which Tancharoen didn’t setup properly. The next thing he knew, it was all over the internet.
“Thank god people liked it, because it could have gone really bad,” he added. Tancharoen hadn’t properly secured certain rights yet, so the accidental release could have been a disaster.
Because everyone and their first-cousin liked the short film, Rebirth‘s actors are in negotiations to star in the upcoming 9-episode webseries. Tancharoen revealed that each episode will be 7-10 minutes long and will cover the history of Mortal Kombat‘s characters. Warner Bros. will likely put the webseries on iTunes, but hasn’t made a final decision about how it’ll be released.
Tancharoen is happy he’s been given the chance to expand his vision for Mortal Kombat, but still hopes that Rebirth will lead to a new major motion picture. “I would love to tell the stories that lead the character up to a certain point, then have them merge together in a big 3D movie,” he said. I hope it happens too. It would be like Scorpion’s spear were actually going into your forehead.
Source: Gamasutra
