Weekend Preview: ‘Mortal Kombat II’ Only Needed One Trailer

Following back-to-back women-driven hits, the summer movie season now begins for men with the release of Mortal Kombat II (ironically on Mothers’ Day weekend). With the different target audience sects between Mortal Kombat II and The Devil Wears Prada 2, one would not expect them to have anything in common. But the data shows one huge similarity. Just as The Devil Wears Prada 2 immediately captured the awareness and intent of its all-ages female target audience and held onto it for months, Mortal Kombat II did the same for men under 35, all with one trailer.

Normally, a sequel or IP title draws immediate high numbers for all metrics, especially among the target audiences multiple months out from release. Once marketing begins on a sequel, growth, if any, is mostly moderate and is centralized towards awareness. With a locked-in fanbase, marketing’s goal is to make that fanbase aware and attract any potential fans who are on the fence about the film.

However, Mortal Kombat II took a different path. Following its predecessor’s moderate performance due to a hybrid release during COVID, Mortal Kombat II debuted onto tracking to a niche fanbase. This included significantly low Awareness at 15% and narrow Intent at 28%. Based on these initial metrics, the film’s hope of overtaking the 2021 film’s $23 million opening came down to either supercharging its niche fanbase with enthusiasm or growing its audience base. In July 2025, just three months out from its original planned release, Warner Bros. chose the latter.

Following its July trailer release, Awareness and Intent exploded to nearly blockbuster levels practically overnight. Just a few weeks post-trailer debut, Awareness grew a whopping 39% for the general population and 46% for men under 35, while Intent grew 16% for the general population and 19% for men under 35. Furthermore, Mortal Kombat II’s conversion rates among its target audience and the general population drastically improved, indicating strong conceptual appeal after minimal marketing. 

After the successful reaction to the trailer, Warner Bros. announced a release date change from October 2025 to May 2026. At the time,the shift showed immense confidence backed up by the data. But the question then became whether Mortal Kombat II could sustain that momentum for seven more months.

Just as The Devil Wears Prada 2 retained a stable rate of Intentful, Aware female fans, Mortal Kombat II successfully retained rates of Awareness and Intent. Not only for its target of men under 35 audience, but for the general public as well. Even during down periods during the 2025 holidays, marketing successfully called back these same levels as far out as two months prior to its new release date, as if that audience has been waiting for the call of “Get Over Here” since summer 2025.

Where a film starts in Awareness and Intent with the target audience and general public is not necessarily where it ends, and sometimes it simply takes one moment of connection with the audience (such as a viral trailer) to move the needle. However, only a true connection with the audience can weather out a seven-month delay with the same levels of Intent across the board.