Bad news, ‘Pacific Rim’ fans. Just as the Jaegers were getting dusted off and their pilots were preparing for the drifting process once again, a problem bigger than the Breach has arisen. Despite a release date being set and director Guillermo Del Toro lining it up to be his next project, ‘Pacific Rim 2’ has hit a Kaiju-sized roadblock. Based on the latest reports, production on the highly anticipated sequel has been “halted indefinitely”.
In a lengthy look at the behind the scenes drama between Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures over ‘Kong: Skull Island’, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the follow-up to Del Toro’s fan favorite robots versus monsters movie that was gearing up to shoot in November has been pushed back or cancelled completely. Though many have been clamoring for more stories from this world since the first film’s release in 2013, Universal is hesitant to proceed because of money. The trade notes that ‘Pacific Rim’ was “one of those films that grosses a lot ($411 million worldwide) while being so costly that a follow-up isn’t a sure thing.”
The journey to a sequel has been a rocky one. After ‘Pacific Rim’ opened, it only drew $101 million domestically, which only accounted for slightly over half of the production budget. Dreams of a second installment were all but lost until the film made a killing overseas, especially in China, so the studio gave the green light to another one. But just as talks of stars like Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman returning started to really ramp up, the project has been sent back to developmental purgatory once more.
To put it bluntly, this sucks. With any luck, maybe Del Toro can work on the script with Travis Beacham and Zak Penn to cut down some cost from the reported $190 million budget so that Universal can have a change of heart. However, if cuts are made, let’s hope that it doesn’t compromise the quality of the story isn’t sacrificed because some suits are hesitant to put out a little extra money.
Are you disappointed that ‘Pacific Rim 2’ has been pushed back indefinitely? If it were possible, would you rather see a watered down version of the sequel that meets the budgetary needs of Universal Pictures instead of not seeing it at all? Let us know in the comments below.
