2026 is poised to feature a major video game movie showdown since new Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter films are scheduled to be released. Originally, the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat II was supposed to hit theaters this fall. The 2021 film was underwhelming, but dedicated fans are hopeful that the sequel could be the Mortal Kombat movie they’ve been waiting decades for.

However, unfortunately, these fans will have to wait nearly seven more months to see the film since Mortal Kombat II has been delayed to next summer. Instead of releasing on October 24, the film will now hit theaters on May 15, 2026. Many fans believe delaying Mortal Kombat II is a mistake, but Warner Bros. clearly thinks it’ll still be a major summer hit.

Practically nobody is expecting Mortal Kombat II to be on any lists of the best films of 2026, but there’s a chance it could be one of the best video game movies of next year. However, now that it’s being released in 2026, Mortal Kombat II now faces compeтιтion from another major fighting franchise.

Mortal Kombat 2 & Street Fighter Will Battle For Video Game Movie Supremacy In 2026

In addition to Mortal Kombat II, the upcoming Street Fighter adaptation is a highly anticipated video game movie releasing next year. Currently, Street Fighter is scheduled to be released on October 16, 2025. Therefore, these two films were initially supposed to come out almost exactly one year apart, but now they will face off in the same year.

Even though Mortal Kombat II’s delay is disappointing, it’s almost poetic that it is now releasing in the same year as Street Fighter. After all, the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter franchises have been competing against each other for over 30 years. The first Street Fighter game was released in 1987, whereas Mortal Kombat was released in 1992 and quickly started dominating the fighting game genre.

Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are undeniably the two kings of this genre, and it has been this way since the ’90s. Throughout its history, Mortal Kombat has sold 100 million games, whereas the Street Fighter franchise has sold (a still very respectable) 56 million copies. Therefore, Mortal Kombat is the more financially successful franchise, but a lot of gamers argue that Street Fighter is a better fighting series overall.

Both of these franchises have extremely loyal fans, so it should be interesting to see how Mortal Kombat II and Street Fighter perform in 2026. Mortal Kombat II will finally feature a tournament between Earthrealm and Outworld and seems like it’s doing everything right after a somewhat disappointing first entry.

Meanwhile, Street Fighter could be the start of a new major movie franchise. Just like Mortal Kombat, the Street Fighter franchise also has a lot of fascinating storylines that the movie can pull from. Additionally, the film has a stacked cast, which includes Jason Momoa, Noah Centineo, Eric André, and WWE wrestlers Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes.

Since these movies are now releasing in the same year, it practically guarantees that many fans will pit them against each other. Which movie will make more at the box office? And which movie will perform better with critics? Overall, it will be very interesting to see how the upcoming Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter films fare upon their respective releases in 2026.