As Mortal Kombat 2 debuts to a series-best opening weekend, producer apologizes for lashing out against critics who "have no idea what the fans want"

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Mortal Kombat 2 producer Todd Gardner is walking back his attack on critics following the film's successful opening weekend.

"I wanted to address a comment I made regarding some of the critical responses to our movie," Garner wrote. "I realize that, in my eagerness to defend the people who worked so hard on this film, I lost sight of the fact that our job is to create the best possible movie, not only for the fans, but for anyone coming to the cinema. Once that movie is out in the world, no one is above criticism. For that, I apologize."

The apology comes after the movie pulled in $63 million at the global box office, against a budget of $80 million (H/T BloodyDisgusting). Though some reports are referring to the numbers as an "underperformance," it's actually a series best. Mortal Kombat opened in 2021 to just $23 million against a budget of $55 million. The original 1995 movie also opened to $23 million, with 1997's Mortal Kombat Annihilation debuting to just $16 million.

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Gardner had previously taken to Twitter to comment on negative reviews, writing: "Some of these reviews are cracking me up. It's clear they have never played the game and have no idea what the fans want or ANY of the rules/canon of Mortal Kombat. One reviewer was mad that a guy 'had a laser eye!' Why the fuck do we still allow people that don’t have any love for the genre review these movies! Baffling."

Mortal Kombat 2 debuted to a 74% Rotten Tomatoes score following early critics screenings, though it has since dropped to 66%. The audience score, however, sits at a much higher 89%, meaning fans are really loving the new film. The 2021 film sits at a 55% critic score, but still has a significantly high 85% audience score. To Gardner's point, the Mortal Kombat movies are indeed for the fans and seem to ignore conventional filmmaking (similar to what the Five Nights at Freddy's movies seem to be doing, though MK is much, much more coherent).

Mortal Kombat 2 is in theaters now. For more of what's on the way in 2026 and beyond, check out our list of upcoming video game movies and our list of movie releases this year.

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Lauren MiliciSenior Entertainment Writer

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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