A short-lived fantasy franchise that was always flirting with disaster issues a rallying cry on the streaming Top 10

If there was ever a fantasy franchise destined to get the juices flowing, then it should have been Pacific Rim. The concept of giant robots beating the sh*t out of giant monsters is such an easy sell that it should have been a slam dunk, but on the live-action front, the property is most likely dead in the water.

Guillermo del Toro tackling a $180 million sci-fi epic that indulged his love of creature features, mechanized mayhem, and jaw-dropping production design was a match made in heaven, but the only thing that prevented 2013’s opening installment from bombing at the box office was a strong performance in China, with the nation contributing over 25 percent of the $411 million gross.

The razor-thin profit margins saw Warner Bros. dump the IP and hand it over to Universal, which proved to be a shrewd move in hindsight when Steven S. DeKnight’s sequel Uprising flopped after failing to crack $300 million globally. A potential third chapter was touted for a while, but the scuttlebutt eventually petered out to leave the Jaegers cast onto a scrapheap from which they may never return.

As beautiful as the duology was to look at, and as giddy as the ridiculously excessive action sequences proved to be, it was story and character that let Pacific Rim down in the long run. Spectacle always sells on streaming, though, and HBO Max subscribers have welcomed the cancellation of the apocalypse back into their hearts. Per FlixPatrol, Pacific Rim is currently one of the 10 most-watched movies with audiences in the United States, which makes sense when it’s perfect weekend viewing when you want to relax with your brain in the off setting.