‘Pacific Rim 2’ Pushed Off Universal’s Release Calendar; ‘Pitch Perfect 3’ Gets New Date
And the bad news continues forGuillermo del Toroand his fans. Universal Pictures has announced it’s pullingPacific Rim 2off its release calendar completely, following reports earlier this month that the project had beenpostponed or even cancelled. Meanwhile,Pitch Perfect 3is moving back two weeks to fillPacific Rim 2’s old slot.
Read about thePacific Rim 2release date cancellation and the newPitch Perfect 3release date after the jump.
Universal PicturesannouncedthePacific Rim 2release date cancellation today.Pitch Perfect 3will now openAugust 4, 2017, instead of June 06, 2025. The old release date pittedPitch Perfect 3against Christopher Nolan’s next movie, Luc Besson’sValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and an untitled animated movie from Fox. The new date looks less competitive, as no other films are currently scheduled for August 4.
Despite thePacific Rim 2release date cancellation, the studio maintains that it is committed to making a sequel happen. In a statement, Universal and Legendary said the creative team will use the extra time “to continue in its efforts to exceed the amazing experience of the first film,” so that it can deliver “the vanguard, fully-immersive experience that the franchise deserves.”
The firstPacific Rimfloundered domestically, making just $101 million. (Which wouldn’t be so bad, except it cost $190 million to make.) But it made a killing overseas, resulting in a worldwide gross of $411 million, and so Universal announced a sequel to open in 2017. Then a few weeks ago, we heard the studio had decided to delay it indefinitely after getting cold feet. Today’s update isn’t a surprise, then, just a confirmation.
Director del Toro has tried to stay optimistic. A couple of days after thePacific Rim 2delay news broke,he told press, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not gone. We’re still on it.” He did acknowledge at the time that the film had “moved further,” though, and we’ve since heard that he might doa small indie movieas his next project.
Pitch Perfect 3, on the other hand, seems like a much surer bet for Universal. The first film was a surprise hit, grossing $115 million worldwide, and the sequel has made nearly two and a half times that. BothAnna KendrickandRebel Wilsonare expected backfor the next installment of the musical comedy series.
