Hollywood studios don’t splash $150 million on a film unless they expect a sequel to follow.
That’s exactly what happened with 2013’s “Pacific Rim” and, because that grossed over $411 million at the box office, that’s exactly their plan with the recently released “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” too.
I recently had the chance to talk to John Boyega about “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” during which time I quizzed him about the possible future for the franchise. Boyega, who is also a producer on the film, admitted that the fan response will dictate whether a third installment follows, but teased that a plan is already firmly in place.
“We have a few different Easter eggs in there. I feel like when the masses go to watch it it will soon become apparent what’s going on. But I am kind of looking to the fans on this one, because there are a few more things and universes to add to this universe.”
“We have gone back and forth on copywriting deals, but we have them in place. I feel like if you watch the film a few times you’ll get to see what we are trying to do.”
Considering that director Steven DeKnight has already admitted to Collider that he wants the “Pacific Rim” films to crossover with the Monster Universe, which is also overseen by Legendary and includes “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla,” there’s a chance that’s the “copywriting deal” that Boyega was referring to.
Boyega also opened up about how integral the fans were to the development and evolution of “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” insisting that he repeatedly visited blogs and websites to find out what they wanted in the sequel.
“That was a big major thing. I was in the comments on the blogs, man, asking questions and exploring. J_Boyega456, ya know what I mean? It was important to explore some of the stuff that wasn’t shown in the first one but in a very natural, organic way.”
“But obviously we want to make more of these movies, so we didn’t want to push ahead too fast to the point where it is unnatural. I have always wanted to see Jaeger on Jaeger conflict, and the Kaiju having a different way of infiltrating the world, and them being much more intelligent. I always wanted to see the origin stories to the Jaeger pilots, too.”
Boyega also admitted that one of the biggest influences on the film was an entirely different genre altogether, as he explained, “This has been described to ‘Power Rangers’ on steroids or ‘Transformers,’ but I wanted this to feel like a live-action anime and I wanted that larger than life style. That just adds another texture of fun.”
You can see if Boyega and his fellow “Pacific Rim: Uprising” cast and crew achieved just that now, as the sci-fi blockbuster is finally in cinemas.
