Pacific Rim and Godzilla: Do they share the same cinematic universe?

The world is currently in an era of cinematic universes and expanding film franchises. After the success of Marvel’s superhero universe, other new cinematic universes are also popping up. Among those, the MonsterVerse of Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures is soon getting a new release, Godzilla vs. Kong. Like this MonsterVerse, the Pacific Rim universe (which also belongs to Legendary Entertainment) is also based on the Kaiju characters, which had originated in Japan. Hence, since their releases, there have been speculations among fans and audience, if Pacific Rim and Godzilla belong to the same universe.

What are Kaiju characters?

In 1954, the first Godzilla film was made in Japan. Along with Godzilla’s release, a new genre of films was born in Japan, called Kaiju. The genre contained films, which revolved around giant monsters attacking cities. Besides Godzilla, the nuclear giant lizard, other notable and famous Kaijus are King Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, and King Kong, all of whom, are part of the Godzilla MonsterVerse. The Pacific Rim film franchise, which began with the film Pacific Rim in 2013, also features Kaijus as the monsters who need to be defeated.

So, do the Pacific Rim and Godzilla exist in the same universe?

The current reboot of Godzilla that exists in WB’s MonsterVerse, began with the 2014 film Godzilla. It also got a sequel in 2019 and a film about King Kong. The ape and lizard will next be seen battling each other in the film Godzilla vs. Kong, which releases on 24 March. However, the MonsterVerse, till now, has shown no hints of sharing the universe with the Pacific Rim’s movies or characters.

Apart from the fact that both the films are based on Kaiju monsters, there are no other facts that support the speculation or a possibility of the two franchises merging. Talking about Pacific Rim's movies and franchise, it began with Pacific Rim which had released in 2013. After that, it got a sequel in 2018, and recently, the franchise had an anime series premiering on Netflix, which follows up on its story after the 2018 sequel. The Pacific Rim movies too, have not shown any hints of the MonsterVerse characters or films being linked with their franchise.

A word from the makers

Steven S DeKnight, the writer and director of Pacific Rim Uprising (2018), was asked about the possibility of merging the films with the MonsterVerse, in an interview in the New York Comic Con of 2017. To this, DeKnight had answered, “I won’t say there’s an Easter Egg but there’s been a lot of discussion about that possibility. Look I think it would be fantastic to have the Pacific Rim universe join Legendary’s Monster Universe, it seems like a natural step. And part of the big overall plan after the third movie we’ve talked about is that could happen, it’s always a possibility. It’s by far not a certainty; it’s merely theoretical at this point, but as a fan myself I would love to see that happen.” However, there have been no announcements or follow-ups on speculations.