‘Pacific Rim 2’ Put On Hold Indefinitely

Pacific Rim 2 was slated to begin filming later this year, but the Guillermo del Toro feature has now been put on hold indefinitely, Slashfilm confirms. Although it is unclear who is hesitant to make the sequel, del Toro or the studio, recent rumors circulating point to Universal. The studio is said to have put the brakes on the sci-fi follow up because it is “one of those films that grosses a lot ($411 million worldwide) while being so costly that a follow-up isn’t a sure thing,” the Hollywood Reporter shared.

Guillermo del Toro was scheduled to start shooting the monster action flick this November with stars Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia), and Burn Gorman (Game of Thrones) back on board to reprise their previous roles. It is unclear if the cast ensemble of Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, and Ron Perlman will be making a return. The film was headed for an August 4, 2017, release until news broke today. A possible cancellation of the Pacific Rim 2 sequel is also a possibility.

Pacific Rim 2’s script was written by del Toro himself, as well as Travis Beacham and Zak Penn. The follow-up is supposed to pick up a few years after the events of the first installment.

“Yes. It’s quite a different movie from the first one in that, but I think that two of our main characters like in the first one are Burn and Charlie,” del Toro told Collider. They are really, really – I mean, honestly, they are probably the guys I have the most fun writing along with Hannibal Chau so just from a purely selfish drive, I like writing them. I love writing for Charlie and Burn. I mean, [Burn’s] in Crimson Peak for that reason, because I love working with him. You’re gonna get a lot of that, but the Kaijus are very different and you’re gonna see a very different type of the robots I think. It’s gonna be quite a different adventure.”

Talk of a Pacific Rim 3 was also a possibility, but with Pacific Rim 2 now on hold, both installments might not see the light of day.

[Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage]