Pacific Rim was one of the best blockbusters of 2013, yet its iffy box office performance meant that for a long time our chances of a sequel looked unlikely. But apparently Legendary and Universal Pictures saw the potential in the franchise, as Pacific Rim: Uprising, directed by Daredevil‘s Steven S. DeKnight, is crashing into theatres this coming March.
After a rather so-so trailer and the departure of Guillermo del Toro, I’m a little skeptical that it’s going to be any good, but I’m more than willing to give it a chance. Besides, its release marks Legendary as the number one place to go in cinema if you want to see gigantic monsters trashing up the place and kicking the snot out of each other. Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island have quietly launched the shared universe, with Godzilla: King of the Monsters currently in post and Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong in development. So, with all this going on, why not connect the dots and have jaegers rocket punching the hell out of Kong?
Collider put this to DeKnight during a recent Q&A at New York Comic-Con, where he said the following:
“I won’t say there’s an Easter Egg but there’s been a lot of discussion about that possibility. Look I think it would be fantastic to have the Pacific Rim universe join Legendary’s Monster Universe, it seems like a natural step. And part of the big overall plan after the third movie we’ve talked about is that could happen, it’s always a possibility. It’s by far not a certainty; it’s merely theoretical at this point, but as a fan myself I would love to see that happen.”
Now wait, as neat as the idea sounds, slotting Pacific Rim into the Monster Universe isn’t just a case of jaegers arriving out of the sunset to save the day. Pacific Rim established a world entirely changed after years of kaiju attacks. It’s essentially a complete alternate history and one that Godzilla, Kong and all the rest don’t fit very easily into. If it was going to happen, I’d wager it’d be by some kind of dimensional portal (which, after all, the jaegers have experience with).
Then again, quibbling about the logic of films involving gigantic lizards and apes throwing down, with robot men carving up extra-dimensional terrors is maybe a bit of a waste of time. Either way, we’ll know more about the future of Pacific Rim when Uprising opens on March 23rd.
