Who will be the fairest of them all at a very crowded Mother’s Day box office ?

While most tracking services are betting on the violent video game adaptation Mortal Kombat II to prevail and top the North American chart with $40 million or more — one research firm is even suggesting $45 million to $49 million — New Line and parent company Warner Bros. are predicting a far more conservative opening in the $35 million range for a worldwide launch anywhere between $65 million and $80 million.

In 2021, Mortal Kombat was by all accounts a resounding hit on streaming when launching simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max due to the ongoing pandemic and a badly lagging box office, where the martial arts movie debuted to $23 million on its way to topping out at a tepid $42 million domestically and $84.4 million globally.

While the actual number of streaming views was never revealed, a sequel came together relatively quickly, with Simon McQuoid returning to helm from a script by Jeremy Slater and Karl Urban…