Coming on three weeks in release, Guillermo Del Toro‘s big, and very expensive ($190 million) monster/robot movie spectacular “Pacific Rim” has pulled in a rather average $86 million. For a blockbuster like this, right in the heart of the summer movie season, that’s the kind of number you aim for on opening weekend. Needless to say, much has been written about the successful or failure of the film, all the while the prospect of a sequel—with reports of development first arriving last year—looms in the background. But it looks like China could be a deciding factor as to whether or not Warner Bros. gets the gang back together.
Deadline reports that “Pacific Rim” has opened strong in the country with $9 million (which, let’s face it, is a tiny dent in the big balance sheet), notably becoming the biggest bow for any Warner Bros. flick in the country ever. According to Deadline, this means a sequel is “likely” but we’ll wait and see what that really means. While WB is certainly feeling heartened by the play over there, we’d wager they might want to see what the ledger looks like at the end of the day for this one. “Pacific Rim” still has a way to go to be profitable, and while Hollywood isn’t shy about throwing good money after bad, WB has time to be cautious. Why?
Well, Guillermo Del Toro is busy as hell for the next little while. He’s spending the rest of 2013 on the FX series “The Strain,” and kicks of 2014 shooting “Crimson Peak” and lord knows what else he’ll sign on to in the interim. So a flicker of hope for “Pacific Rim 2,” but not a sure thing just yet.