Transformers had a one-of-a-kind premise when the first film was released. Years later, Real Steel brought a similar premise, but this time combined robots with wrestling. Then in 2013, Guillermo del Toro dropped Transformers machinery into a Godzilla-scale monster war. This new film followed two human pilots operating a skyscraper-sized weapon through a shared neural connection. While it didn’t go parabolic relative to Transformers, it still performed decently at the box office. Three years later, its sequel arrived and grossed $290.9 million worldwide against a production budget of $150 million, which was underwhelming when other costs were weighed in. That sequel is now trending in the U.S. on streaming.
It also arrived with a cast full of future stars — John Boyega was coming off the new Star Wars trilogy and Cailee Spaeny later led Priscilla and Alien: Romulus. Scott Eastwood, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Jing Tian, and Burn Gorman round out the rest of the cast, some returning from the original like Day. Now eight years after its theatrical release, the sequel is climbing rather than merely appearing in HBO Max’s U.S. catalog. It entered the platform’s movie Top 10 at No. 6 on July 20, rose to No. 4 on July 21, and reached No. 3 on July 22. That’s not all though; the film also sat in the ballpark of Top 20 films in Mongolia and Zimbabwe.
The franchise is Pacific Rim, and we’re talking about Pacific Rim: Uprising, Steven S. DeKnight’s 2018 sequel, with del Toro producing rather than directing. Boyega plays Jake Pentecost, the estranged son of Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost, who returns to the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps when a new Kaiju threat emerges. Spaeny’s teenage engineer Amara Namani builds her own Jaeger from scraps, while Kikuchi returns as Mako Mori, and Charlie Day’s Newt Geiszler becomes central to the invasion. The movie holds just a 42% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.6/10 on IMDb, yet it still has managed to find streaming success on HBO Max almost a decade later.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Why ‘Pacific Rim 3’ Didn’t Happen
The first Pacific Rim earned $411 million worldwide against a reported $190 million budget, and scored 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. Those numbers were respectable enough to justify another attempt, especially with $309 million coming from outside North America. Uprising then fell to $290.9 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, while its domestic gross dropped from $101.8 million to $59.9 million. Its critical reception wasn’t good either and, at the time of writing, has collapsed to 42%, with audiences giving it only 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Director Steven S. DeKnight later summarized the franchise’s problem directly and said that the films are “really, really expensive.” His proposed third movie would have united Jaegers and liberated Kaiju before opening the franchise into a multiverse. During an interview to Syfy, S. DeKnight also went on to add that he “would personally love to see Guillermo del Toro return and do a third one.” While that hasn’t happened so far, the franchise’s story was later continued with a comics trilogy.
Pacific Rim: Uprising is currently trending on HBO Max in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
March 23, 2018
Runtime
111 minutes
Director
Steven S. DeKnight
Writers
Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, Steven S. DeKnight, T.S. Nowlin, Travis Beacham
Producers
Guillermo del Toro, Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Thomas Tull, Femi Oguns
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