Guillermo del Toro Responds to ‘Pacific Rim 2’ Cancellation Rumors

Earlier this week reports began to surface in the wake of a Hollywood Reporter article that Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim 2 had been “halted indefinitely.” Sources inside Universal Studios told the paper that Pacific Rim 2 “will be pushed back (if it gets made at all).” It was a shocking update for fans who had been anticipating the next installment of del Toro’s Kaiju vs. Jaegers saga (this one would’ve been subtitled Maelstrom). It was just as shocking for del Toro himself who told us he’s still working on the film and that no decisions about its fate have been made.

We caught up with del Toro at the Crimson Peak press day and asked him about the news. “It’s still going,” he told us. “I don’t think it will be my next movie, though. It was postponed.” He elaborates:

We’re working on the budget. We’re working on the screenplay. And I think the need was to send a budget and screenplay that fit. Once that is done, we’ll know if it goes or not. For the moment, it’s not canceled.

If it turns out that Universal, who did not distribute the first film (that was Warner Bros.) but has right to the film under their new deal with Legendary Pictures, does decide to pass on Pacific Rim 2, del Toro says it’s possible that Legendary could decide to shop the film to other suitors. Perhaps, even back to Warner Bros. If that does happen though, he won’t have any part of the decision. “That’s above my pay grade. At some point, it’s up to Disney to say ‘yes’ to Haunted Mansion and it’s up to Universal to say ‘yes’ to this.”

The first Pacific Rim opened in the summer of 2013 to unspectacular domestic box office (just $101.8 million in the U.S.), but the performed well enough overseas and wound up grossing more than $409 million worldwide. Legendary, who fully financed the original, has been pushing for a sequel because it performed “exceptionally well in China,” where the production company is heavily invested.

We’ll have lots more from the Crimson Peak junket in the weeks to come; the movie opens in theaters on October 16.

Pacific Rim 2’s planned August, 2017 release date is obviously on hold.