Pacific Rim 2

Watch John Boyega lead a new generation of giant robots into battle in the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s kaiju blockbuster.

A quick refresher for those not up on the brief but troubled history of the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s kaiju-throwback Pacific Rim: First, the notorious G.D.T. confirmed that the sequel would be here by April 2017. The production team had plans to beginning shooting back in November, but by September, presiding studio Universal had deemed a Pacific Rim sequel a low priority and placed it on the proverbial back burner. After indefinitely halting production on the film in mid-September, Universal took the film off of its release calendar at the end of that month. As recently as last month, Universal stated it had no interest in producing the film on its own — perhaps due to Crimson Peak’s sadly lackluster showing at the box-office — but apparently the project has taken on a new life due to Legendary Pictures. (Worth noting is that Legendary was recently acquired by China’s Wanda Pictures, and that Pacific Rim played like gangbusters overseas.)

A fascinating new article in The Hollywood Reporter, details a growing battle between Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures, the production company behind films like The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, Godzilla, and Jurassic World. This spat between entertainment titans sounds like it could grow into a full-on war akin to a rumble between giant robots and interdimensional aliens — partly over the studio’s reluctance to make a movie about giant robots warring with interdimensional aliens. That film, of course, is Pacific Rim 2, and according to THR, it’s been “halted indefinitely.”