“Mortal Kombat” film producer sues Midway Games

The firesale at Midway Games may have hit a hurdle. Lawrence Kasanoff, through his company Threshold Entertainment, has sued Midway saying it owns intellectual property rights in the “Mortal Kombat” franchise, which is the video game publisher’s largest property.

he suit could affect Warner Bros.’ $33 million bid for select Midway assets (including “Mortal Kombat”), as rights to the franchise will need to be determined before a sale can take place. Threshold also wants to retain the film rights to the franchise.

The complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. bankruptcy court, alleges the film adaptations of the game, rather than the game itself, gave the “Mortal Kombat” universe its mythology.

Launched in 1992, “Mortal Kombat” wasn’t the first fighter game the industry had seen, but it was the first to really capture the public’s attention. Not all of the attention was good, though, as parents groups and others objected to the game’s violent finishing moves. 

Nonetheless, it was deemed big enough to make a film adaptation in 1995.

Threshold alleges his contributions to the franchise were what made it into more than a run-of-the-mill video game.

"The 'Mortal Kombat' franchise, as it stands today, is far more a creation of Threshold and Kasanoff than of Midway," says the court filing. “ Midway's creative input was almost entirely limited to the videogames. On their own, the videogames provided only minimal back-story and mythology, and only flat, 'stock' characters. ... Kasanoff and Threshold were responsible for virtually all of the creative input that went into turning the videogame concept into a multimedia enterprise.”

Threshold produced two “Mortal Kombat” films (along with their soundtracks) in 1995 and 1997. It has also produced an animated series and owns the mortalkombat.com web site.

Warner’s bid for assets is scheduled to go before a bankruptcy judge in Delaware on July 1.

GamePolitics has a copy of the filing here for those interested in giving it a thorough read.