Eight years after it first hit theaters, John Boyega's sci-fi sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising is making a massive comeback on HBO Max. The film has been climbing the streaming service's U.S. charts since July 20, 2026, when it debuted at No. 6. By July 21, it had jumped to No. 4, and on July 22, it secured the No. 3 spot. The movie is also trending in the Top 20 in Mongolia and Zimbabwe, proving that giant robot action has a global fanbase that's still hungry for more.
Directed by Steven S. DeKnight, with Guillermo del Toro producing, Pacific Rim: Uprising arrived in 2018 as the follow-up to del Toro's 2013 hit Pacific Rim. The original film blended the mechanical spectacle of Transformers with the monster-scale chaos of Godzilla, featuring human pilots who control skyscraper-sized Jaegers through a shared neural link. While the first movie earned $411 million worldwide on a $190 million budget, the sequel grossed $290.9 million against a $150 million production budget—a drop that, combined with marketing costs, made it a financial disappointment.
But the cast was stacked with future stars. John Boyega, fresh off the Star Wars sequel trilogy, plays Jake Pentecost, the estranged son of Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost. Cailee Spaeny, who later led Priscilla and Alien: Romulus, plays teenage engineer Amara Namani. Scott Eastwood, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Jing Tian, and Burn Gorman round out the ensemble, with Kikuchi and Day returning from the original film. The story follows Jake as he rejoins the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps to face a new Kaiju threat, while Amara builds her own Jaeger from scrap parts.
Despite its star power, the sequel holds a 42% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.6/10 on IMDb. Critics and audiences alike were less kind than they were to the original, which scored 72% on the Tomatometer. Yet the film's streaming resurgence on HBO Max suggests that even flawed giant-robot adventures can find a second life. The franchise's future, however, remains uncertain. DeKnight has said a third film would have been "really, really expensive" and would have united Jaegers with liberated Kaiju before opening into a multiverse. He's also expressed a desire to see del Toro return to direct a third installment.
For now, fans of the Pacific Rim universe can revisit Uprising on HBO Max, or check out the comics trilogy that continued the story. The film's streaming success is a reminder that sometimes, all it takes is the right platform and a little nostalgia to reignite interest in a blockbuster that didn't quite hit its mark the first time around.
If you're in the mood for more sci-fi action, you might also enjoy our look at Robert Kirkman's Energon Universe, which is building a Transformers empire to rival Marvel and DC. Or, for a different kind of robot-on-robot warfare, check out Alan Ritchson's 'War Machines' sequel, which just got a script reveal and title update.
