The Pacific Rim franchise lived a concise life after the original director Guillermo del Toro left it soon after the first movie. The absence of del Toro is a major factor in why the sequel lost its charm. While everyone wondered why the director left the franchise midway, it is now revealed that it was a ridiculous fault of the studio. The reason was a missed payment by the studio to book the required sound stages.
The Pacific Rim Uprising was a lackluster sequel to the much-appreciated 2013 del Toro movie. There are uncountable reasons why the 2018 movie was nothing compared to the first installment. However, it is unbelievable to grasp that the mere laziness shown by the studio cost them their director.
Why was Guillermo del Toro absent from Pacific Rim 2?
We have often seen how franchises lost their magic due to several mistakes by the studio. Sometimes studio intervention and creative differences also play major roles. But it was way too ridiculous in the case of Pacific Rim Uprising.
According to the latest Q&A session held by Collider with the director Guillermo del Toro, he revealed that the studio didn’t book the Toronto sound stages on time. The studio then decided to shift the filming schedule to China. But del Toro also had plans to film The Shape of Water which led him to deny the Pacific Rim sequel.
“Then what happened is — I mean, this is why life’s crazy, right? — they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5pm or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months. So, I said, ‘Don’t forget we’re gonna lose the stages,’ and five o’clock came and went, and we lost the stages. They said, ‘Well, we can shoot it in China.’ And I go, ‘What do you mean we?’ [Laughs] ‘I’ve gotta go do ‘Shape of Water.'”
It is well-versed to the cinema-lovers that Guillermo del Toro specializes in monster movies. The director’s way of handling the kaijus was one of the key points of the first movie. The sequel not only handled the monsters in a bad way but also presented the whole world blandly. Unlike the first movie which boasted of a vibrance, Pacific Rim Uprising lacks the beauty.
While it was an unfortunate end to the franchise which took quite a good start, it didn’t affect Guillermo del Toro in any way. The director went on to win four Oscars for The Shape of Water.
Guillermo del Toro hasn’t watched Pacific Rim Uprising
The Pacific Rim franchise was created by Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham focusing on humanity’s fight against kaiju monsters in a futuristic Earth. Even though it faced an untimely death, the franchise had the potential to do much better.
When the Hellboy director was asked for views on the sequel, he revealed that he didn’t even watch it. Nevertheless, he agreed that he read the script and it was much different.
“I didn’t see the final movie because that’s like watching home movies from your ex-wife. It is terrible if they’re good and worse if they’re bad, or the opposite. You don’t wanna know. So, I didn’t see it. I did read the final script, and it was very different. Some of the elements were the same but very different.”
The director of the sequel Steven S. DeKnight also admitted their plans about cancelled sequels. According to him, they could turn this into another Star Wars or Star Trek-like franchise if the audience would have accepted it well. But unfortunately, all we had were two movies and an animated Netflix series.
The Pacific Rim movies can be rented on Apple TV+.
