'Pacific Rim' Sequel May Happen Thanks to Chinese Box Office

Guillermo Del Toro's highly-expensive monsters vs. robots flick Pacific Rim has been in theaters for nearly a month, and the average $86M it's earned domestically has been the subject of a lot of negative headlines. With a budget said to be north of $200M, early talk of a sequel has seemed like a pipe dream, and screenwriter Travis Beacham has been talking up its future as a graphic novel rather than a feature film. But it sounds like Warner Bros. is keeping the door for a sequel open, thanks to the film's performance overseas.

Pacific Rim has taken China by storm, opening to a whopping (for them anyway) $9M, the biggest for any Warner Bros. film, and significantly more than the Harry Potter franchise. China has become one of the most important markets in the world, and we've seen films like Iron Man 3 and Transformers 4 appeal to the Chinese audience in very specific ways. At the same time, the film has been a monster on the international market as a whole, taking #1 recently and reeling in $140M up to this point. There are still more territories to go, but with the total sitting at $226M a sequel is "likely" in Warner Bros. plans now.

It'll be awhile before Pacific Rim's balance sheet enters the black, and chances are a decision won't be made until all of the numbers have come in. Del Toro has so much on his plate right now that a follow-up would probably be a long ways off. [Deadline]