Guillermo del Toro Says PACIFIC RIM: MAELSTROM is Still On


Things have now gotten even messier.

A few days ago, we brought you the news that Universal has halted work on Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, with the movie potentially not getting made at all. No reason was given, but the general consenseus is that it was a money issue. The idea of a sequel always had a dream-come-true-feel to it; it’s a miracle the first flick even got made. A big-budget summer blockbuster about kaijus and jaegers, featuring a largely unknown cast and a title that could also be used for its porn parody? C’mon, it sounds insane.

A sequel was only ever considered because it made a gazillion ($300m) dollars in China, while it only just broke $100m domestically. Regardless, it’s still a big risk, so nobody was really surprised to see that it may not come to fruition. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sad day.

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The epitome of photoshop skills.

However, despite all of that, there’s one man who we hadn’t heard from on the matter – until now. That man is director Guillermo del Toro, who is probably a fairly reliable source on the matter. According to him, the sequel is still on.

“We are still turning in a screenplay and a budget in three weeks. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not gone. We’re still on it.”

That seems pretty definite to me. I mean, del Toro wouldn’t lie about explicit details such as that, so I’ll take his words for it. However, that doesn’t mean that THR is wrong; they could just be hearing what executives are really thinking, which will get back to del Toro in three weeks.

One thing that is correct, though, is that there’s been a delay – or it may still be ongoing. “It moved further,” he added. “I may do another movie in the middle.” Good news for del Toro fans like me!

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It still seems like very early days i.e. any possible cancellation of Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, so make sure to keep a close eye on UTF for any more deets.

What do you guys think – should Universal move forward with a sequel or should they pull the plug? Sound off!