Pacific Rim: Uprising was a $290 million Kaiju movie disappointment, and the film’s failure makes Guillermo del Toro’s unmade Pacific Rim sequel even more frustrating. Pacific Rim is one of the acclaimed director’s most popular and successful films, with the epic original movie making $411 million on a budget of around $200 million. Because of Pacific Rim‘s success, a sequel was greenlit soon after the original’s release, and while Guillermo del Toro was initially attached to direct the film, the final fate of Pacific Rim: Uprising makes the loss of del Toro’s original sequel even more painful.

The 2013 film Pacific Rim is one of the most successful American Kaiju movies to not be based on a pre-existing franchise, with the film following an army of humans who use giant robots called Jaegers to fight off the Kaiju. Upon its release, del Toro’s Pacific Rim was praised for its cinematography, unique world, and epic fight scenes, with there being all kinds of potential to turn it into a franchise. Upon the release of the first sequel, however, Pacific Rim‘s reputation fell hard, mostly because del Toro wasn’t involved with the second Pacific Rim movie.

Pacific Rim: Uprising’s Disappointment Made Del Toro’s Unmade Pacific Rim Sequel Worse

His Version Could Have Been Better

Pacific Rim: Uprising was a huge critical and commercial failure, with it being a major disappointment for fans who hoped to see Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim universe be expanded upon properly. With a budget of around $176 million, Pacific Rim: Uprising made only $290 million at the box office. This was significantly lower than the original film’s gross, and the same can be said for the critical reception. Pacific Rim: Uprising was panned for not being as original or well-made as the first Pacific Rim, with it being far more generic than its predecessor.

Although Pacific Rim: Uprising was a disappointment, it was clear that there was potential for a Pacific Rim sequel to be great. Guillermo del Toro was originally signed on to direct the Pacific Rim sequel, and although he eventually dropped out, he undoubtedly had big plans to make the sequel even better than the first. Having a talented director at the helm like Guillermo del Toro could have completely rewritten the fate of the Pacific Rim franchise, which is why its such a tragedy that Pacific Rim: Uprising came around to kill it.

Why Guillermo del Toro Didn’t Direct Pacific Rim: Uprising

He Moved On To Other Projects

Upon the announcement of a sequel, Guillermo del Toro was initially set to return to the director’s chair for Pacific Rim 2. This was expected, as del Toro had directed sequels for major franchises before, such as Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Blade II. Although del Toro was eager to get started on the film, Universal and Legendary ran into problems, causing the state of the film’s future to be thrown into flux. Eventually, Legendary was sold to Chinese Wanda Group, who wanted to revitalize the production of the sequel due to the success of the first film in China.

One of the big changes upon Chinese Wanda Group’s acquisition of Legendary was that they wanted to film Pacific Rim 2 in China, moving away from Toronto, where the first Pacific Rim was filmed. However, del Toro was not interested in moving away from Toronto, with him already having plans to shoot his next film, The Shape of Water, in the Canadian city. Thus, del Toro decided to leave Pacific Rim 2, with Steven S. DeKnight signing on to take over and creating Pacific Rim: Uprising as it is known today.

What Del Toro’s Pacific Rim Sequel Would Have Looked Like

Del Toro Did Have A Script

While del Toro was involved in the creation of his Pacific Rim sequel, he had pitched a script and budget to Legendary, meaning that he was pretty far along in the creative process. Although very few details about the story are known, Guillermo del Toro has talked about his original Pacific Rim 2 plans, stating that the film would take place in Shanghai, the desert, and then conclude in San Francisco. However, upon leaving the project, Derek Connolly was brought in to rewrite Pacific Rim: Uprising‘s script, leaving del Toro’s original story behind.

Del Toro’s Pacific Rim sequel would have most likely avoided some of the biggest problems with Pacific Rim: Uprising, keeping the charm and wonder of the original film. Del Toro’s original film spent a lot of time discussing the working of the Jaegar robots, with this magical element of the giant robots being missing from the sequel. Del Toro’s sequel would have also most likely kept the grounded cinematography from the first Pacific Rim, something that was a major loss for Pacific Rim: Uprising.