Seriously. We need more of those Monster on Jaeger deathmatches.
Pacific Rim was a movie that knew exactly what it was and delivered. We got tons of crazy Guillermo Del Toro monster designs, some fantastic battles, and an anime inspired story to back it all up. However, while popular with its intended audience the film wasn’t quite the blockbuster the studio was hoping it would be. As a result, the sequel was on the fence for a while until it seemed like a go. Now… we’re not so sure.
What’s happened with the Pacific Rim sequel?
It has been officially delayed, but according to The Hollywood Reporter it has been delayed indefinitely. Apparently, it’s been the casualty of a rift forming between Legendary and Universal.
Could there be other reasons for Pacific Rim 2 to be on hold?
Well, it seems that Legendary is building up to make its own cinematic universe out of big movie monsters. Godzilla was a solid performer last year and overall a very well received film. Their upcoming King Kong film, Kong: Skull Island, is apparently being slightly rewritten to include references to elements of their Godzilla film. So, it’s very possible we’ll get another Godzilla vs. King Kong film in the future.
Unfortunately, it seems that focusing on this monster cinematic universe means taking resources away from Pacific Rim 2. As a result… it’s likely we won’t see the sequel for some time while these other projects are being worked on.
Why doesn’t Pacific Rim fit into this cinematic universe?
The film establishes a very particular world with rifts in space and time, a future where humans build giant monster fighting robots, and a situation very close to the apocalypse. Godzilla, on the other hand, takes place in modern day and tries to ground as much of the otherworldly elements as possible. We suspect Skull Island will take a similar approach.
Now, it’s certainly possible that these monster movies could be building up to the Pacific Rim universe, growing more outlandish until we reach the future Guillermo Del Toro envisioned. After all, Pacific Rim started life as a spec story bought as a potential Godzilla movie. However, as fun as it might be to meld the franchises it’s something of a stretch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ULnQ2fGjE
So, will we ever see a sequel to Pacific Rim?
There’s no reason to write off the film. A very likely explanation for all this is that Legendary is waiting for the right time to make a new Pacific Rim movie which would include building up their other franchises first. If Skull Island and future Godzilla movies do exceptionally well at the box office is stands to reason we’ll get Pacific Rim 2 to capitalize on that trend.
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