Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro's first installment of the Pacific Rim did well enough at the box office, and thumbs up to Guillermo del Toro, as the Pacific Rim sequel's production will begin this November in Toronto, primarily at Pinewood Toronto Studios. And a release date has been set for August 4, 2017 and the working title for Pacific Rim 2 is Maelstrom.
The first film of the Pacific Rim has an inter-dimensional pull at the bottom of the ocean that unleashed massive Kaiju beasts to destruct the earth. In Pacific Rim 2: Maelstrom, it appears the robots will have another mayhem against the creatures from the watery depths.
As director del Toro said, the focus in the monsters in the sequel and also what happens after the monster's threat is gone. And Guillermo del Toro was asked about what will happen to the Jaeger technology once the kaiju are no longer a problem, and the director answered, "It's quite a jump."
The production did not reveal any cast yet, however, the artists that are expected to pop back in are Charlie Hunnam (Raleigh), Rinko Kikuchi (Mako), Charlie Day (Dr. Newton Geiszler), and Burn Gorman (Gottlieb). And probably Ron Perlman's Hannibal Chau will come back for the film.
There were also rumors that the Pacific Rim 2 story, picked up a few years after the events of the first film, but there are no words yet if that Travis Beacham is writing along with del Toro and Zak Penn. Nevertheless, the Japanese film actress, Rinko Kikuchi should return in the film as she gave impact in the first installment, and Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman are also expected to be back.
Guillermo del Toro stated, "Although I hope Pacific Rim 2 is successful for the series' own sake (it's not often that a major franchise has positive representation, celebrates a platonic relationship between a man and a woman, and showcases robot-on-monster smackdowns), del Toro also said, "the Pacific Rim 2's success will determine whether or not he makes a Hellboy 3."