PACIFIC RIM 2 has been indefinitely delayed

Looks like Guillermo Del Toro’s Jaegers have encountered a class-10 Jaeger: Studio Politics. Originally scheduled for an August 2017 release, it looks like the current brouhaha between Legendary Pictures and Universal has resulted in the project being “indefinitely delayed”.

According to THR, Universal has cold feet over financing the sequel, as the original film was a slow-burner that eventually made $411 million at the box office, thanks largely to the Chinese market which saved it. As THR described the current off-screen drama between Legendary, Universal and Warner Bros.:

Legendary wanted to produce a sequel to del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which was made under the Warners deal and turned into one of those films that grosses a lot ($411 million worldwide) while being so costly that a follow-up isn’t a sure thing. Sources say Legendary liked that the original performed exceptionally well in China, where the company is heavily invested, but for now the project — which had been ramping up to make a release date in August 2017 — has been halted indefinitely and will be pushed back (if it gets made at all).

That’s all there is to go on right now. It is an understandably risky sequel to make. Pacific Rim had a reported budget of $190 million, which it barely made back. Naturally, Del Toro’s sequel would have had a smaller budget to work with, but Universal clearly isn’t confident that Pacific Rim 2 can be a smash-hit. Even though Universal is sitting on a massive pile of cash from Furious 7 and Jurassic World, Pacific Rim 2 is seen as too costly a gambit to undertake.

Stars Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and probably Rinko Kikuchi were all expected back for Pacific Rim 2. The script was penned by del Toro, Travis Beacham, and Zak Penn and would have picked up a few years after the events of the first film, with even more kaiju action.

Right now, don;t expect Del Toro to start shooting the sequel in November, like he originally planned to. Because worst-case scenario, is that Pacific Rim 2 will never be made. I’m incredibly depressed over all this, as I was genuinely hoping that we’d finally see Hannibal Chau find his goddamn shoe.

Last Updated: September 17, 2015