In the best news we've heard all weekend, Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that work on Pacific Rim 2 is underway.
Pacific Rim 2 may be a reality after all. After last year's giant robots vs. giant monsters spectacular underperformed at the U.S. box office, a sequel didn't seem all that likely. Pacific Rim did manage to make up considerable ground in the cash department overseas, which probably helped the cause.
Still, we didn't expect to be writing the words Pacific Rim 2 a whole lot this year, which makes this bit of news an all the more pleasant surprise. Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that work is underway (with Zak Penn) on the script for Pacific Rim 2.
“I’m working very, very hard with Zak Penn,” Mr. del Toro told BuzzFeed. “We’ve been working for a few months now in secret. We found a way to twist it around." While Legendary Pictures haven't committed to production yet, Mr. del Toro promised that "I’m proceeding like it is happening,” and that he is working on "very new, very crazy ideas on the second one."
Pacific Rim 2 won't be a prequel as some had speculated and it will continue the story of Raleigh Beckett and Mako Mori. As for this writer, I felt the fatal flaw of Pacific Rim was that Rinko Kikuchi's Mako was a much stronger character than Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh, and had the film been more her story than his, it might have felt a bit more dynamic. Perhaps Pacific Rim 2 will correct this.
That aside, if you like this genre and haven't yet checked out Pacific Rim, please do so. Perhaps it would have drawn more attention at the box-office were it part of an established brand like Transformersor Godzilla(and Pacific Rim's visuals easily outmatch both of those), and it would be great to see Guillermo del Toro continue to build this world.
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