Zak Pen of “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “Hulk” is also contributing

Jun 9, 2014 20:57 GMT  ·  By
“Pacific Rim” might be getting a sequel, Guillermo del Toro is writing the script
   “Pacific Rim” might be getting a sequel, Guillermo del Toro is writing the script

“Pacific Rim” was a modest release in the US, but it fared very well in international theaters, particularly those in China. However, as of the time of writing, there are no plans to make a sequel for it, but director Guillermo del Toro isn’t letting that stop him from penning the script for it.

Made on a budget of $190 million (€139.6 million), the film, which came out in 2013 and was billed one of the most anticipated releases of the year, made over $410 million (€300.9 million) in total, but only a quarter of this money came from US theaters.

To many movie studios, that’s a flop or, at the very least, reason enough not to greenlight a sequel. However, reps for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures did say at one point that they would consider a follow-up if del Toro were on board to direct and only if they were presented with a flawless story.

It seems that this is what the famous director is toiling at right now. Speaking at an event promoting the FX series “The Strain,” which he produced, del Toro says for BuzzFeed that he’s writing the script with Zak Pen, whose most famous writing credits include “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “The Incredible Hulk.”

“We’ve been working for a few months now in secret. We found a way to twist it around. Travis Beacham [co-writer of the first film, now working on Fox’s Hieroglyph] was involved in the storyline and now I’m writing with Zak because Travis has become a TV mogul,” del Toro explains.

He’s all too aware that all his work might turn up to be in vain because, if Warners doesn’t like the idea and doesn’t want to make the movie, he’ll be left with a useless script; but del Toro is a practical man and, as one, he’d rather he did his best to ensure that this didn’t happen.

The general idea for the story is that this new movie will continue after the events in the first one, which means that we’ll see Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi reprise their roles.

“Some people were wondering if we were going to do the prequel. I was never interested in doing that first wave of invasion. I’m going for very new, very crazy ideas on the second one, which are very different from the first one — but you will get really great spectacle,” del Toro says.

Assuming studio bosses like what they read when the script is done and they do agree to greenlight a sequel, we might still have to wait at least a few more years until it finally arrives in theaters. Del Toro isn’t exactly the kind of director that rushes through things and, considering the scale of the original and his promise to deliver yet another “great spectacle,” production might extend longer than with a usual action movie.

In other words, this great piece of news about getting a “Pacific Rim” sequel isn’t really all that great because it might take years to materialize. Still, are you excited about it? Let us know in the comments section below.