2018’s Pacific Rim Uprising made more that $290 million worldwide, but with a reported $150 million budget plus advertising costs on top of that, it wasn’t successful enough to lead to a third film in the Pacific Rim franchise.
But after reading this latest update from Uprising director Steven S. DeKnight, I wonder if fans might regret not turning out in bigger numbers for that sequel. The filmmaker confirms that he had a plan for a potential Pacific Rim 3, which would have incorporated King Kong and Godzilla into Guillermo del Toro’s universe of kaiju and jaegers. But the giant fights that inevitably would have ensued on screen would not have been between the players you might think.
In a series of recent tweets (via The Playlist), DeKnight shed some light on his plan for a Pacific Rim Godzilla vs. Kong crossover. When someone asked him if he “fancied a shot” at a crossover between the two franchises, he responded, “That was actually my long term plan. [Pacific Rim 3] was structured to end in a way that married the two universes.” Of course, having a plan and actually being able to execute that plan are two very different things, and DeKnight acknowledged the potential gulf between them in a different tweet, saying “it was just an idea,” which echoes previous comments he’s made about the possibility.
But if you thought the entire reason for a possible crossover was to see someone piloting a giant jaeger robot which punched Godzilla and/or Kong square in the jaw, you would be mistaken. When a fan expressed exasperation at the idea of “a bunch of dumb robots [fighting] the two most iconic monsters of all tim,” DeKnight stepped in to add some extra clarification. “[You’re] assuming the giant robots would be fighting them. Which is incorrect, at least in my version.” Naturally, that leaves us wondering what would have happened if this version came to pass. I guess the most obvious remaining option would be for Godzilla, Kong, and the jaeger pilots to team up to fight an even larger threat from an alternate dimension. (But man, I’d love if they could have just thrown logic to the wind and had Kong pilot an even more massive jaeger.)
I asked DeKnight about a possible crossover when I interviewed him for Pacific Rim Uprising, and he told me, “I have an idea, a plan for the third part of this Pacific Rim trilogy that would open up the universe and allow that crossover if Legendary wants to. It’s totally up to them.” Interestingly, when a fan asked him to spill some additional details about his seemingly-abandoned plan yesterday, he would not. “Can’t,” he said. “Would never want to step on Legendary’s creative toes. Worked with a lot of good, passionate people over there.” To me, that indicates that maybe, just maybe, the possibility has not been completely removed from the board just yet. But it certainly sounds like a long shot, so it’s probably best to lower your expectations and then be surprised if it ever actually happens.
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