Legendary Pictures already hires Travis Beacham to pen the script for the follow-up project, though the first movie is still nearly a year away from being released.
- December 5, 2012
AceShowbiz -
Legendary Pictures wastes no time to make Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim" its big franchise. The Burbank-based company is readying a sequel to the monsters vs. robots tentpole, despite the fact that the first film itself won't hit theaters Stateside until July 12, 2013.
The Hollywood Reporter breaks the news that Legendary is already "laying the groundwork" for the potential sequel by tapping writer Travis Beacham to provide the screenplay. Beacham himself is the one who wrote the early treatment of "Pacific Rim". His spec, which was initially mistakenly rumored to be the basis of the "Godzilla" remake, was bought by Legendary back in June 2010.
Further details of the untitled Pacific Rim sequel are still scarce. del Toro reportedly will co-write the script, but it is unclear whether he will return as the director since he's just committed himself to helm a horror pic called "Crimson Peak". Also developed at Legendary, the new project is eyeing a January 2014 start date.
"Pacific Rim" follows the time when legions of monstrous creatures known as Kaiju start rising from the sea. To combat the monsters, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge.
A washed up former pilot named Raleigh Antrobus and an untested trainee called Mako Mori team up to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope when Kaiju aim to take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end.
Charlie Hunnam tackles the part of Antrobus, while Rinko Kikuchi stars as Mori. They are joined by Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Clifton Collins Jr. and Ron Perlman.
