Pacific Rim Uprising is a 2018 American science fiction movie directed by Steven S. DeKnight, in his feature film directorial debut, and written by DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, and T.S. Nowlin. Uprising is the sequel to the 2013 movie Pacific Rim, with Guillermo del Toro, director of the original, serving as a producer. Take a look below for 25 more fun and interesting facts about Pacific Rim Uprising.
1. Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega, as well as Scott Eastwood Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, and Adria Arjona, with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman returning from the original movie.
2. Set in the year 2030, the plot follows humanity again fighting the Kaiju, which are giant monsters set on destroying the world.
3. The movie was released in the United States on March 23, 2018, by Universal Pictures, in 2D, Real D 3D, IMAX 3D and IMAX and has grossed $242 million worldwide, making it the eighth highest-grossing movie of 2018.
4. Composer John Paesano was originally slated to be writing the score for Pacific Rim Uprising, replacing the first movie’s composer Ramin Djawadi; however, in January 2018, it was announced that Paesano had been replaced by Lorne Balfe.
5. A notable absence from the cast of Pacific Rim Uprising was Charlie Hunnam, who couldn’t join the project because of his scheduling conflicts with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
6. In an interview with Collider in November, 2014, Guillermo del Toro talked about setting the stage for Pacific Rim 2 stating: “It’s a few years after the first one. It’s not an immediate follow-up. It’s the world having been freed of Kaiju, what happens to the world after – what happens to the Jaeger technology once the Kaiju are not a threat. It’s quite a jump.”
7. Guillermo del Toro stepped down as a director, in order to direct The Shape of Water instead, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
8. The movie pushed back the release date from August 4, 2017, to February 23, 2018. It was later pushed back again another month to March 23, 2018.
9. Bracer Phoenix is just the second Mark-5 Jaeger, the first being Striker Eureka. All of the other Jaegers, such as Gipsy Avengers, Saber Athena, Titan Redeemer and Guardian Bravo, are Mark-6.
10. In the final battle between the Kaijus and Jaegers, you’ll find a Unicorn Gundam statue and the Anaheim Electronics name on a building.
11. John Boyega produced and played the lead role of Jake Pentecost.
12. Warner Brothers Pictures, who produced the first movie with Legendary Pictures, will release the movie internationally. Universal, who collaborated with Legendary, will distribute the movie domestically.
13. The Kaiju that Gipsy Avenger and Bracer Phoenix fight is named Raijin, which sounds similar to Raiju, the name of a Category 4 Kaiju that was killed by Gipsy Danger in the original Pacific Rim.
14. In the scene where Jules Reyes tackles Nate Lambert, actress Adria Arjona performed the stunt herself.
15. Pacific Rim Uprising reunited Spartacus: War of the Damned cast members Steven S. DeKnight, Nick E. Tarabay, Dustin Clare and Daniel Feuerriegel.
16. Composer John Paesano recorded a score in December, 2017, at the Synchron Stage Vienna, that wasn’t used.
17. Bracer Phoenix is the second Jaeger to have three pilots, after Crimson Typhoon from Pacific Rim.
18. The codename of the three Kaijus combination seen on Newt’s handheld tablet screen is Megakaiju. It refers to the combination of Power Ranger’s zords forming bipedal mecha, known as a Megazord.
19. In the official trailer, there is a black and orange Jaeger called Obsidian Fury that appears to be fighting Gipsy Avenger.
20. The conscripted scavenger character “Amana Namani,” played by Cailee Spaeny innovatively pilots her self made Jaeger, that has the call sign Scrapper, a term very aptly used from orthodox western boxing to describe a fighter that is small in statute but having strong willpower.
21. Pacific Rim Uprising is a springboard for a cinematic universe, where Steven DeKnight revealed, “If enough people show up to this, we’ve already talked about the plot of the third movie, and how the end of the third movie would expand the universe to a Star Wars or Star Trek style [universe] where you can go in many, many different directions.”
22. Steven DeKnight talked about the possibility of a crossover between Pacific Rim and the MonsterVerse, as co-writer T.S. Nowlin is a member of its writers room.
23. As of April 2, 2018, Pacific Rim Uprising has grossed $47 million in the United States and Canada, and $185.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $232.1 million.
24. In order for Pacific Rim Uprising to break even, the movie needs to gross at least $350 million worldwide.
25. Legendary Comics released Pacific Rim: Aftermath on January 17, 2018. The six issue comic book series is meant to serve as a bridge between the first and second Pacific Rim movies.
