We’ve known for a while that Guillermo del Toro is at work on a sequel to last year’s giant robots vs. giant monsters action outing Pacific Rim. Del Toro himself announced that the second film would arrive in 2017. And it appears he’s got plans beyond that, telling Collider that he hopes to make a third.
The ambitious expansion of the Pacific Rim franchise – one generated thanks to the first film’s success outside of the US – already includes an animated series that will bridge the gap between the first and second films. And according to the director, the second film will be very different and will itself point the way towards the third. “Some of your favourite characters come back, some others don’t because we have decided that we’re going to shoot ambitiously and say, ‘Let’s hope we have three movies,’ so some characters come in at the end of the second, hoping that it will ramp up on the third one.”
The first draft of Pacific Rim 2 is already complete and the team – including writers Zak Penn and Travis Beacham (who penned the original and will be helping out on this one between other duties) – is at work developing the script before pre-production kicks off next year. Shooting is pencilled in for late 2015.