Just as Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost decreed the apocalypse to be cancelled, Legendary and Universal deemed that Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim 2 would be delayed indefinitely late last year, decommissioning the towering sequel before it could set one gigantic foot down on its planned summer 2017 release window.
But there’s a new ray of hope emerging for the postponed follow-up. In the wake of the $3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, del Toro himself took to Twitter to tease that the gargantuan creature feature may have just been handed a lifeline.
[zerg]Perhaps one of the defining factors of Pacific Rim‘s cult success was its performance overseas, with China accounting for $111 million of its $309 million international haul. And though that in no way guarantees a sequel of the same scope and scale of the 2013 original – let alone a sequel at all – it’s arguably the best news to surface regarding Pacific Rim 2 in quite some time.
Here’s what the del Toro had to say:
Pac Rim 2 cancelled? Don’t believe everything you read. It’s still going and I’ll remain w it in one way or another!
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 11, 2016
Overall, though, the acquisition of Legendary Entertainment is a massive coup for the Dalian Wanda Group, underlining the growing presence of the former in China following the founding of Legendary East. Under the latter’s banner, films such as Zhang Yimou’s anticipated The Great Wall have entered production, and Dalian’s involvement will only strengthen the company’s foothold in the Chinese film market.
Once scheduled for August 2017 before Legendary’s indefinite delay, Pacific Rim 2 may have just been handed a sliver of hope following Dalian’s acquisition, but will it be enough to fast-track the sequel into development?