The "Pacific Rim 2" movie may be as good as cancelled now that news of its halted production is confirmed.
The film is currently in the middle of the falling out between Legendary and Universal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Legendary wanted to create the "Pacific Rim 2" movie. However, the original film turned out to be "so costly that a follow-up isn't a sure thing."
Sources say that Legendary was happy with the fact that "Pacific Rim" was able to perform well in China, where the company is heavily invested. Nonetheless, the project has been halted indefinitely and will be pushed back in favor of other titles by the studio.
The "Pacific Rim 2" movie release date would have been in Aug. 2017. Now, it is highly likely that the sequel will be shown in theaters by 2018 or later; if its production is ever given a go signal again.
Collider reported that the studio may not be eager to put up a big budget for the sequel up front, with no guaranteed return of investment. The original 2013 title had a rumored budget of $190 million with $411 million box office sales.
It was previously reported that the "Pacific Rim 2" movie will start filming this November. Director Guillermo del Toro has revealed that he will begin shooting the robot action flick later this year, mostly at Pinewood Toronto Studios from November until 2016.
At San Diego Comic-Con, del Toro revealed that "Pacific Rim 2" movie is set a few years after the events of the original film and will focus on the Kaiju monsters. The director wrote the script with Zak Penn, who previously worked on "X-Men: The Last Stand."
The sequel will reportedly be named "Maelstrom." Plus, there were rumors that Charlie Day's Kaiju-obsessed Dr. Newton Geiszler and Burn Gorman's Gottlieb might return. However, it is unclear whether Jaeger pilots Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh Beckett and Rinko Kikuchi's Mako Mori will reprise their roles.
