Pacific Rim 2 “Halted Indefinitely”

Bad news for readers looking forward to seeing the Kaiju and Jaegers doing battle once again, as word gets out that the ‘Pacific Rim’ sequel may have been shelved.

As far as we knew, director Guillermo del Toro and most of the same cast and crew of the divisive 2013 sci-fi fantasy were all set to get to work on the follow-up this autumn with a view to a summer 2017 release.

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However, a new report at the Hollywood Reporter, focusing on alleged tensions between production house Legendary and studio Universal, claims that ‘Pacific Rim 2′ has “been halted indefinitely and will be pushed back (if it gets made at all).”

In many respects this isn’t too great a shock, as plenty of eyebrows were raised when ‘Pacific Rim 2′ gained momentum in the first place. The first film under-performed in the west and got a largely lukewarm reaction from audiences and critics.

But it proved an unexpectedly big hit in Asia, bringing the $190 million movie’s box office takings to $411 million; no small amount of money, but still not exactly earth-shattering in these days of billion dollar blockbusters.

THR’s report does not cite any direct sources at Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros (where the production house was previously based) or Universal (where they have since set up shop), so - assuming their claim is accurate - it’s currently unclear exactly why ‘Pacific Rim 2′ has been axed.

However, the report also claims there are major tensions between Legendary head Thomas Tull and the top brass at Universal, with Universal reportedly refusing to finance both Guillermo del Toro’s next film for Legendary, ‘Crimson Peak,’ and the upcoming ‘Kong: Skull Island.’

This resulted in Legendary taking their ‘Kong’ project back to their old home at Warners (which they were within their rights to do, as Kong is a public domain character) - and, as previously reported, this should indeed set the stage for a ‘King Kong Vs Godzilla’ movie following the 2018 ‘Godzilla’ sequel.

Of course, it would also seem to rule out subsequent reports that those characters might also cross over into the ‘Pacific Rim’ universe, if the ‘Pacific Rim’ sequel is off.

And as a footnote, we are reassured that Legendary have indeed taken the size difference between Kong and Godzilla into account, and the company “is confident it can come up with a rationale to explain how Kong and Godzilla can do battle — and possibly become allies.”

Good news for the great movie monsters of old, then - but does that mean we’ve seen the last of the Kaiju and the Jaegers?

And between this and the inability of either ‘Hellboy 3′ or ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ to get the green light, is anyone ever going to let Guillermo del Toro make the movies he wants to make again?

Picture Credit: Warner Bros