Midway is back in the news again, and this time Threshold Entertainment and Lawrence Kasanoff are attempting to block the sale of the Mortal Kombat franchise to Warner Bros. Kasanoff claims that his company has interests in the Mortal Kombat IP from film and TV licensing standpoint, and that it needs to be part of any deal that is made.

The suit claims that the Mortal Kombat franchise is worth as much as $4 billion and at least some of the success is owed to Kasanoff’s contributions to the franchise. Kasanoff claims in the suit that Midway was focused just on the video game and that Threshold Entertainment is responsible for the creative input that built the story and the characters that turned the franchise in to a multimedia enterprise.

It seems that Kasanoff does at least have a claim here, as Threshold Entertainment continues to hold a valid license from what we can tell to produce movie and TV projects based on the franchise. He is hopeful of blocking the sale because his interests in the IP are at stake.

It just seems that Midway can’t catch a break; and even in bankruptcy the company is unable to work things out to get the estimated $33 million dollar sale to Warner Bros. completed. It is unknown what exactly will happen next, but whispers do suggest that Warner Bros. will be a lot less interested in the deal if Mortal Kombat isn’t a part of it. We will just have to wait and see what the judge has to say about all of this.