Earth's jaegers might be headed for another truly epic showdown with the kaiju,
but you'll likely never get to see it. Why does this franchise seem to be dead in the water?
When Pacific Rim was due for release in 2013, Hollywood had high hopes that it could be the
next great franchise. After all, the film had all the ingredients of a smashing success:
A hot director in Guillermo del Toro, a superstar leading man in Idris Elba,
and an impressive cast of emerging talent. The movie also mashes together
two wildly popular genres: giant kaiju monsters and super-sized sci-fi robots.
But Pacific Rim underwhelmed at the box office, only barely doubling its budget.
The sequel took a while to get up and running as a result, as Warner Bros.. stepped away
from the franchise and Universal Pictures took over. Nearly five years after the first movie,
Pacific Rim Uprising arrived, helmed by Steven S. DeKnight. Whether because of the long wait,
because it lacked most of the previous film's stars, or because it just isn't very good,
Uprising was a dud at the box office and disappointed fans and critics alike.
"Okay, we're going with giant robots again. Alright, real original, guys.
Not impressed. I am not impressed."
Moviegoers hoping for a sequel to round out a trilogy have their fingers crossed
that they'll still somehow get their wish, but it seems that the box office results of
the original films just haven't been enough to convince Hollywood to green-light another.
Ever since Pacific Rim Uprising failed to set the box office ablaze,
the people behind it have gone looking for answers about what went wrong. For starters,
director Steven S. DeKnight talked to Collider about how the movie underwent
a significant overhaul after some poor test screenings. He said:
"When we tested the movie, one of the biggest comments we got was, 'I don't know where I am
in the world. I liked the first movie, but I saw it five years ago. I don't really remember it.'"
This might suggest that the long wait between movies played a part in losing
the audience. But returning actor Charlie Day thinks there are other
reasons Uprising didn't catch on. Asked by the Hollywood Reporter in 2022 if
the change in directors was to blame for the film's failure, Day had this to say:
"Yes, [Guillermo del Toro is] such a singular vision and talent. Someone else can do someone
else, but no one can do him. He's a true auteur, and when you give an auteur a big franchise thing,
they're going to do something really interesting with it, which I think he did."
"Who is that guy? Every take he comes up to me and says something or other. Who is it?"
While not exactly casting blame on DeKnight, this does add context to the poor reviews of
Uprising, which is often noted for its lack of originality and flair compared to the original.
Ahead of the release of Pacific Rim Uprising, some were already looking ahead to a potential Pacific
Rim 3. Director Steven S. DeKnight was one of them. During a press junket, he told Den of Geek:
"Hopefully, we'll get a chance to do a third one,
if the audience shows up for this one, and hopefully I'll be involved."
Following the film's release, though, doubts began to arise about the prospects
of a Pacific Rim threequel. Eventually, DeKnight was cornered by Cinema Blend,
who asked point blank if Pacific Rim 3 was ever going to happen. He said:
"That is so far above my pay grade. I have
heard nothing. That is up to the executives and the bean counters."
Regardless of how the studio may feel, the director wants it to happen. He added:
"I think the franchise deserves to be finished. Whether or not it made enough money,
I honestly have no idea. Long ago, I kind of disconnected myself to any
kind of box office worry. Things like that are kind of out of my hand. But
I certainly hope so. I have heard nothing, but I hope there's [another] installment."
"Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!"
While Idris Elba and Charlie Hunnam didn't return for Pacific Rim Uprising,
at least one of them could make a comeback if a third film happens.
Steven S. DeKnight once told Fandom that he "loves" Charlie Hunnam, explaining that a
scheduling conflict with another project took him away from the first sequel. DeKnight also made it
clear that there is room for him to return, if a third film ever materializes. He explained:
"We've left it open. I have a great idea for how to fold him
back into the next installment if he's available and if the schedules work."
This statement also suggests that another of the franchise's stars is
likely to feature in a third installment too — if DeKnight has anything to say about it,
that is. Interviews with star John Boyega suggest he'd be more than happy to reprise
his role as Jake Pentecost too, though his more recent comments regarding the Star Wars sequel
trilogy could suggest he probably isn't eager to take part in another franchise.
"Rey!" "No!"
Pacific Rim Uprising may not deliver a story quite like the first film's,
but it does fill out the world, expand on the lore, and set up the franchise for a
third entry that could completely change the stakes. Notably, Uprising reveals
new information on the alien race called the Precursors, the true villains of Pacific Rim,
who are intent on conquering the planet by sending the kaiju to wreak havoc on Earth.
In Pacific Rim Uprising, we learn that the Precursors have an ally on Earth
who has been serving as an inside man by orchestrating kaiju invasions. When that
person is found out and confronted, we get a clear idea of where a Pacific Rim 3 could go.
"We're gonna keep coming. We're never gonna
stop, and sooner or later your luck is going to run out!"
Meanwhile, in a post-credits scene, Jake Pentecost says they'll need a new battle plan if they're
going to defeat the monstrous menace once and for all. This means taking the fight to the
kaijus' realm — which is exactly what Boyega told IGN during a chat about Pacific Rim 3. He said:
"We'll probably have to go to their world this time. We're going to need something
different. I mean, jaegers won't be able to go through there the way we
want them to but maybe we'll try and build something else."
Though we may have a decent idea of which cast members could return to continue the Pacific Rim
series, there's another question to consider: Who would direct a third installment? While Steven S.
DeKnight has spoken often about his hopes for a third film, some of his comments cast doubt
on the idea of him returning. In 2018, he spoke with Cinema Blend, and was asked if there would
be another movie. His response implied it could happen... but without him at the helm. He said:
"I hope, with or without me — because my schedule is starting to get a
little complicated — that there's a third installment because I would love to see it."
This suggests he may not return, even if there is another film. If he doesn't come back,
the potential then arises for series creator Guillermo del Toro to return to the director's
chair. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem all that keen on coming back himself. In 2021,
del Toro chatted with fans of Pacific Rim on Twitter,
and said that while he would love to see another film, it'll be as a fan. He said:
"NO plans to return."
So where does that leave us? Well, some have suggested Vincenzo Natali could be
a possibility to direct Pacific Rim 3. The Cube director has collaborated with del Toro before,
having directed several episodes of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities and The Strain.
If Pacific Rim 3 ever comes together, what will it be about? Well, we know where Pacific
Rim Uprising sets it up to go, and we know where star John Boyega wants to take it.
"Tell 'em next time, they won't need to worry about coming for us.
'Cos we're gonna come for them."
A sequel is primed to take jaegers and their human pilots through the breach and
into the enemy's domain, where they would fight on an entirely new battlefield. But
Guillermo del Toro had plans for a very different Pacific Rim sequel at one point,
and there's always the possibility that his ideas could be repurposed for a third film.
In a 2021 interview with The Wrap, del Toro talked about his discarded story and
the secrets it would have revealed about the wider Pacific Rim universe. He said:
"The villain was this tech guy that had invented basically sort of the internet
2.0. And then they realized that all his patents came to him one morning.
And so little by little, they started putting together this and they said, 'Oh,
he got them from the Precursors.' The guys that control the kaiju."
Beyond a revelation of how this technology came to be,
del Toro's idea would throw a major twist into the mix. He continued:
"Then we found out that the Precursors are us thousands of years in the future. They're trying
to terraform, trying to re-harvest the Earth to survive. [...] And that we were in exo-bio-suits
that looked alien, but they were not. We were inside. And it was a really interesting paradox."
Way back when, the filmmakers behind Pacific Rim had bigger aspirations than just a
series of movies. Talking to Nerdist in 2017, sequel director Steven S. DeKnight said that,
in addition to discussion of a third film, conversations were also taking
place regarding ways to turn the franchise into a full-fledged cinematic universe.
While Uprising was still in production, DeKnight told Nerdist:
"The plan was always to use this movie as a launching pad. If enough people show up to this,
we've already talked about the plot of the third movie,
and how the end of the third movie would expand the universe to a Star
Wars/Star Trek style [franchise] where you can go in many, many different directions."
DeKnight went on to talk about the various ideas that lay on the drawing board. He added:
"You can go main canon, you can go spin-offs, you can go one-offs. Yeah,
that's the plan. And I would love to see an animated TV show based on this."
Had Uprising been a hit, we could have found ourselves
swimming in Pacific Rim projects — sadly, it just wasn't to be.
The Pacific Rim cinematic universe was scrapped before it even began;
audiences never got Pacific Rim 3, let alone any spin-offs or other projects.
But that doesn't mean that fans have gone entirely without any new stories in this
world. For example, the animated series DeKnight alluded to did make its way to the small screen.
"What is this place?"
Pacific Rim: The Black debuted as a Netflix original anime in 2021,
produced jointly by Legendary Television and Japanese animation studio Polygon Pictures.
Mostly ignoring Pacific Rim Uprising, this series follows up on the first movie. It
introduces Taylor and Hayley Travis, a brother and sister who discover an abandoned Jaeger
and use it to battle kaiju and further their mission to find their lost parents.
At the same time, Legendary Comics has published Pacific Rim comics including Pacific Rim:
Amara and Pacific Rim: Aftermath. These stories build upon the events of the first movie,
while Pacific Rim: Blackout continues the adventures of the anime series.
During a press junket for Pacific Rim Uprising, Steven S. DeKnight spoke candidly about his
hopes for the future. While the film's failure at the box office made another
movie hard to get off the ground, there may still be a route to Pacific Rim 3,
if all the stars can align. And the key may be streaming.
With more streaming services available than ever before,
platforms ranging from Netflix to Amazon Prime are looking for ways to set themselves apart.
Of course, that often means investing in franchises. And while Pacific Rim may not
have drawn enough fans to the theater, a third movie could bring in a sizable streaming audience.
We've already seen a Pacific Rim anime series find success on Netflix, and it's not too much
of a jump to imagine they might also invest in a cinematic sequel — or even a live-action series.
Similarly, a nascent streaming service looking to compete with the industry's
giants could see Pacific Rim as a ticket to gaining market share.
If there's any hope left of continuing the franchise, now might be the time to strike.