A decade ago, renowned director and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro took the helm ofPacific Rim, a sci-fi monster movie he co-wrote alongside Travis Beacham. This production set in the future presents a world waging war against the Kaiju, colossal monsters that emerged from a portal deep in the Pacific Ocean aiming to wipe out mankind. to stop them, a group of experts created the Jaegers, giant robots operated in pairs. But when the Kaiju become far more powerful than the Jaegers, the future of humanity rests solely in the hands of ex-pilot Raleigh Becket, who left the Jaeger program following a personal tragedy, and Mako Mori, an apprentice who has never piloted before.
Charlie Hunnam leads the cast of this 2013 film, joined by Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Robert Kazinsky, and Max Martini. Upon its release,Pacific Rimearned rave reviews and garnered a number of nominations and awards, among them, five Saturn Award nominations. While the movie underperformed at the U.S. box office, it succeeded in other countries, eventually becoming a blockbuster with a worldwide gross of over $411 million, topping del Toro’slist of top-grossing films.
Pacific Rim’s popularity kicked off a franchise that, a few years later, delighted audiences with a second installment featuring more fights between monsters and humans, and after that, rumors of a potential third film started swirling. However, it seems thatPacific Rim 3will never see the light of day. Here’s why.
A Crossover Movie That Never Made It to Theaters
Following the huge success thatPacific Rimhad with audiences, its filmmakers started working on a sequel,Pacific Rim Uprising, which was supposed to be directed by del Toro once again. However, the production of this new film had to be pushed back several months due to internal issues at one of the film’s production companies. Even though del Toro had already started working on the movie, he was not willing to wait that long to direct it, so he eventually resigned from his role as director and turned his attention toThe Shape of Water, which became a hugely acclaimed and awarded production.
Despite not being involved in the second installment of the franchise as director, del Toro remained part of the franchise as producer, with Steven DeKnight taking over as head of the new production. Thus, 2018 marked the release ofPacific Rim Uprising, as well as DeKnight’s debut as director and writer. This sequelstarred John Boyega, and also featured some of the original cast members reprising their roles in a new battle between humans and monsters.
A few months before this film hit theaters, DeKnight talked about the possibility of developing a third production, as long as the second one was widely embraced by the audience. In this potential installment, he planned to expand thePacific Rimuniverse and, moreover, to create a crossover between the films and the renownedMonsterVerse, bringing into the movie iconic creatures such as Godzilla and King Kong (viaScreen Rant).
Related:Pacific Rim: How Guillermo del Toro’s Monster Film Has Aged After 10 Years
Why Was Pacific Rim 3 Canceled?
The idea of a crossover film combining thePacific Rimuniverse and theMonsterVersedelighted many fans. However, in the words of the director of the franchise’s second film, this project hinged on one thing: how wellPacific Rim Uprisingperformed. When this big-budget production hit theaters in 2018, the estimate was that it should reap, at least, a profit of $350 million to break even. Unfortunately, the film grossed just over $290 million worldwide, well below the profit of the original film.
On top of that,Pacific Rim Uprisingdid not meet with good reviews either and, although its visual effects and the cast’s performances were praised, the film was deemed to be considerably worse than the original one. In this context, and bearing in mind that producing the movies of the franchise represented a millionaire investment, the producers thought thatPacific Rim 3was not such a good idea, so they finally decided to cancel the project altogether.
Related:The Best Monster Movie In Each Decade from the Last 100 Years
The TV Series That Saved the Day
Luckily for fans, the fact thatPacific Rim 3never made it to theaters did not mark the end of the franchise. In fact, the very same year that the second installment premiered, Netflix started working on a TV series to expand the universe. Thus, 2021 marked the release ofPacific Rim: The Black, anadult animated showdeveloped by Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle. This production is set in the same universe as the movies, with the Kaiju still at war with humans, and features two teenage siblings who venture on a journey aboard a training Jaeger to find their parents, who had long ago departed to battle the monsters.
Pacific Rim: The Blackaired for two seasons to rave reviews, ending its run in April 2022 (viaBustle). The show sparked the development of a graphic novel by Cavan Scott titledPacific Rim: Blackout, which serves as a prequel to the series. As of now, there is no news of upcoming films or television series joining the franchise in the near future.
