The film is not due out for another 8 months but Legendary Entertainment has already started working on the sequel for Guillermo del Toro’s film ‘Pacific Rim’ and has secured Travis Beacham to pen the screenplay.

Beacham actually wrote the spec script for ‘Pacific Rim’ which Legendary pick up a couple years ago. Del Toro jumped on the project when the film he originally was attached to, ‘At the Mountains of Madness,’ fell through. While it is too soon to see if Del Toro will direct the sequel (as it’s just been announced that his next project will be the horror film ‘Crimson Peak’), the director will be working alongside Beachem on the script. In fact, before Legenary actually commissioned the script order, the two had already been working on a few ideas for a follow-up film.

Working on a sequel script before a film is released is not uncommon in the industry. Usually this is done if the film seems to do well with test audiences or if the buzz seems to be extremely positive. This way, the studio can benefit from the movie’s success and get the sequel up and going before too much time has passed between films.  This can work for and against a studio as it’s done well with films like ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ and ‘The Hangover II’ but not so well with ‘John Carter’ and ‘Green Lantern.’

‘Pacific Rim’ centers on a worldwide defense force which use huge human controlled robots called Jaegers in order to save humanity from gigantic alien monsters called Kaiju. Here’s the official synopsis:

In the film, legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, start rising from the sea and begin a war that would takes millions of lives and consumes humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, 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. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

The viral campaign for the film started several days ago and it’s expected that a trailer will drop next week. While it’s too early to speculate about the second film, it does seem that ‘Pacific Rim’ has the propensity of spawning a sequel.

We’ll soon find out when the film hits theaters on July 12, 2013.

 

Source: THR