Updated! director Kevin Tancharoen tells Collider that the teaser trailer he directed for “Mortal Kombat : Rebirth” hasn’t been sanctioned by the studio, it is something he’s using to pitch Warner Bros – he’d like a shot at directing the next “Kombat” sequel/prequel/remake. “You know at first I was just making this to prove to Warner Bros, but then I sent the link privately to some friends for their opinions. All of the sudden it was on some websites. I freaked out for a minute, but I couldn’t stop it at that point. And I was extremely nervous about this one. Because what I wanted more than anything was support from the fans who like this kind of stuff.” For more on Tancharoen’s short film and his plan for the film, should he get the job, click here.

Here’s the Original Story…

For the last five or so years Theshold/Midway, the then-owners of the “Mortal Kombat” franchise, had been trying to get a third feature film, based on the video game property, off the ground. Filmmaker Christopher ‘Mink’ Morrison had long been attached to direct the film – which, he’d told us several times would essentially be a ‘reboot’ (though we wasn’t ruling out bringing back some of the actors from the previous films, be it Christopher Lambert or Robin Shou, to reprise their earlier roles). But for numerous reasons, largely financial, the film just never happened.

Last year Warner Bros snapped up – and immediately announced their plans to bring “Mortal Kombat” back to theaters. Yet strangely enough that was the last we’d heard of “Mortal Kombat 3″.

Today an interesting short film titled “Mortal Kombat : Rebirth”, featuring the recognizable faces of Michael Jai White (“Black Dynamite”) and Jeri Ryan (“Star Trek :Voyager”) and directed by Kevin Tancharoen (“Fame”), hit YouTube (Via Latino Review). So what is it? Well, seems it’s test footage for the new “Mortal Kombat” movie. It looks good don’t it?! But do question the ‘real world’ approach to the film? I mean, don’t we know the “Mortal Kombat” characters best as impossibly fit super-human magic-men? Whatever the case, anything’s better than another “Mortal Kombat :Annihilation”, and this looks three times as good! Bring it on… sans 3D!