The people behind Legendary Pictures have decided to move forward with Pacific Rim 2 by appointing Spartacus creator and Daredevil‘s showrunner Steven S. DeKnight as director of the film.
Currently the project has been kept on hold since September of last year with the film being taken off the 2017 release schedule. Guillermo del Toro directed the original film in 2013 and was originally committed in directing the sequel as well. However, del Toro will be returning as a producer with Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni and Mary Parent. Jillian Share will executive produce.
Pacific Rim 2 will be DeKnight’s first film to direct. He’s been executive producer and writer for Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix series, creator of Spartacus (which ran between the years 2010 and 2013) and has also earned credits in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Smallville. Having worked on Prometheus, Jon Spaihts will be writing Pacific Rim 2.
The original film starred Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Robert Kazinsky but it’s unclear if the cast will be reprising their roles in the sequel.
Being set in the 2020s, Pacific Rim followed the story of Earth using giant “Jaegers” piloted by humans in order to battle Kaijus, which were monsters originating from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
The price tag of Pacific Rim was $190 million and was released through Warner Bros. which took in only $101 million in the U.S. The film performed decently in the international box office earning $310 million with China raking in $114 million.
Legendary concluded their agreement to co-produce and co-finance the films with Warners in 2013 and have started a similar pact with Universal in which the company shares production costs on projects including Jurassic World, Straight Outta Compton, Crimson Peak and Steve Jobs.
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