Mortal Kombat II Just Got Hit With a Brutal Reality Check as The Devil Wears Prada 2 Storms the Box Office
The box office clash nobody expected is suddenly turning into one of the wildest showdowns of the year. On one side, you’ve got the blood-soaked chaos of Mortal Kombat II, a sequel packed with fatalities, fan service, and the long-awaited arrival of johnny Cage. On the other? The Devil Wears Prada 2 — a fashion-fueled sequel that’s pulling in massive crowds and quietly becoming a serious commercial threat. What looked like an easy victory for Warner Bros.’ video game adaptation is now shaping up to be a brutal fight for survival.
According to early tracking, both films are neck-and-neck heading into Sunday, with projections hovering between $40 million and $42 million domestically. But while The Devil Wears Prada 2 is gaining steam thanks to strong audience reactions and word of mouth, Mortal Kombat II may have just taken a damaging hit where it hurts most: audience satisfaction.
CinemaScore revealed that Mortal Kombat II earned a “B” grade from opening-night audiences — a noticeable drop from the B+ received by 2021’s Mortal Kombat and far below the A- scored by the beloved 1995 original. In hollywood terms, that’s not catastrophic, but it’s far from the knockout Warner Bros. likely hoped for. A B score often signals a movie that delivered spectacle but failed to fully satisfy mainstream audiences.
That puts Mortal Kombat II in the same audience-reaction territory as films like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and prince of Persia — not exactly elite company. Worse, it trails crowd-pleasers like Sonic the Hedgehog, Detective Pikachu, and The Super Mario Bros. movie, all of which managed stronger audience buzz and longer-lasting momentum.
Producer Todd Garner clearly isn’t taking the criticism lightly. After negative reviews began circulating, he fired back online, accusing critics of misunderstanding the franchise entirely. Garner mocked reviewers who complained about over-the-top elements like laser eyes, arguing that anyone unfamiliar with Mortal Kombat lore has no business reviewing the film in the first place.
Still, fan passion can only carry a movie so far. With a 65% Rotten Tomatoes score and mixed audience reactions, Mortal Kombat II now data-faces the real test: whether hardcore fans alone are enough to overpower the unexpected cultural force of The Devil Wears Prada 2. This weekend’s box office fight may end up being less about fatalities — and more about staying power.