“You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album. But you can be bad at playing a video game, and the video game will punish you, and deny you access to the rest of the video game.” So says Irish comedian Dara O’Briain on why he loves video games.
We now seem to be living in an age of video game adaptations, with The Last of Us and Tomb Raider all making headlines for their latest reimaging on the big screen. Mortal Kombat is the latest iteration that is making waves in the industry, with its newest addition coming to theatres in May 2026.
Mortal Kombat 2’s Ana Thu Nguyen joins Tiffany Dunk on Love Stories:
There’s been an argument in recent years that “Hollywood has run out of ideas” as we appear to have more and more book-to-film adaptations and rebooted or readapted films coming to theatres and streaming services in the 2020s. There may be some truth to that. However, video game adaptations were, for decades, long-considered the punchline of Hollywood. Clunky plots, questionable casting, and a near-total disregard for what made the games beloved meant films based on popular titles rarely lived up to their source material.
There were some successes, but they were few and far between. The first video game adaptation was the Pac-Man animated television series in 1982. It instigated interest in the genre and was followed by Saturday Supercade (1983), Pole Position (1984) and the first live-action video game adaptation, Super Mario Bros 1993.
Jane-Claude Van Damme’s Street Fighter has become a cult curiosity, but it disappointed in the box office. Other disappointments were Jake Gyllenhaal’s Prince of Persia (which had some mixed reviews and endured claims of whitewashing) and Michael Fassbender’s much-anticipated Assassin’s Creed adaptation. A major-budget attempt to elevate the genre with prestige casting and ambition, but it was ultimately too complex and emotionally distant for mainstream audiences to connect with.
One of the most successful adaptations was arguably Angelina Jolie‘s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in the 2000s. It was considered the gold standard for video game adaptations for years. Furthermore, it was a massive hit, grossing nearly USD$275 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing video game movie ever. It reinvigorated interest in the actual game and is often credited with encouraging more women and girls to try it out. Sadly, its follow-up Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, fell victim to the bad video game adaptation trope. It wasn’t able to recreate the successes.
Fast-forward to 2018, and following the video game getting a reboot, Tomb Raider received another revamped film adaptation. This time, Academy Award-winning actress Alicia Vikander (wife to other video game adaptation star Michael Fassbender) took on the Tomb Raider mantle. Despite it grossing millions worldwide, it failed to inspire the fans, and a sequel was cancelled. Now, a new adaptation is in the works, created by Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge and with Game of Thrones‘ Sophie Turner in the role of Lara Croft.
It’s not the only adaptation that is striking gold in the 2020s. It appears that studios are listening to fans and being more faithful to the original games. Just look at The Last of Us (2023). Who knew that a zombie video game would bring us heart-wrenching scenes of love and loss and the struggle of the human spirit? The video game was widely successful, and the show stars superstar Pedro Pascal in one of the lead roles. It is now considered the new gold standard. The award-winning television series has charmed critics and the public alike. Winning Actor, Critics’ Choice and Emmys.
In the film space, Mortal Kombat is shaping up to be a major franchise. The first film came out in 1995, with a sequel in 1997. After which, Warner Bros acquired the title. A series of animated films followed. But in 2021, the series received a major reboot with a trilogy. The first film was filmed right here in Australia, and on its release, it broke records for streaming on HBO Max. Its sequel, starring Australia’s own Ana Thu Nguyen, is hitting cinemas on 8 May 2026.
Ana joins us on the couch of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories with her mum, Uyen Tran, to speak about their relationship and her role in the upcoming film.
“I auditioned for the first Mortal Kombat for the role of Nitara. And I remember when I got the brief for that, I was like, “Oh my god, this is so amazing.” I grew up with fighting games, and I just love love fantasy. So, I just thought this would be an amazing opportunity,” Ana says on the podcast. However, it wasn’t to be.
“I was really devastated, it was a strange feeling…I felt like I belonged in that world, so when I didn’t get it, I was shocked and sad.”
So she let it go until the sequel was announced and she tried again, but this time with no expectations.
“Queen Sindel just sat so naturally within me,” Ana admits, explaining that even though she wanted it to happen, she was trying not to get her hopes up. “If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen; if not, then it won’t.”
However, following her callback call, her agents showed up at her parents’ house, and her mum, Uyen, answered the door. But Ana was away with friends.
“‘Why are you at my parents house?!” she remembers asking them as she and her mum laugh. “And they just told me to pull over, and I was freaking out. And then they told me that I got it, and I was like, “What do you mean? That feeling that I had in 2020 that I would be a part of this universe in some way actually came true.”
Watch the full episode:
