Earlier today, Legendary Pictures issued a press release that announced the hiring ofHerbert W. Gainsas the studio’s new Executive Vice President of Physical Production. While that news may not be terribly exciting to your everyday movie fan, the announcement also included the new official titles forGodzilla 2, which will now be calledGodzilla: King of Monsters, andPacific Rim 2, which will now be calledPacific Rim: Uprising. This news comes just a month after it seemed that a different title was confirmed forPacific Rim 2.
Last month, production began onPacific Rim 2, with starJohn Boyegasending out the first photo from the set. The image featured a personalized script cover with the actor’s initials in the bottom right corner, with the titlePacific Rim: Maelstromclearly displayed on the cover. That title had been rumored for quite some time, but it seems that the studio has changed the title once again. Here’s an excerpt fromLegendary’s press release, which mentionsGodzilla: King of MonstersandPacific Rim: Uprisingas two of the movie’sHerbert W. Gainswill oversee.
“Best known for his work as Executive Producer on such films as Warner Bros’The JudgeandWatchmen, as well as the recently releasedJack Reacher: Never Go Backfrom Paramount, Gains' responsibilities will include overseeing production of Legendary’s feature film slate including such highly anticipated projects asPacific Rim: Uprising,Pokemon’s Detective PikachuandGodzilla: King of Monsters.Gainswill also work closely with the post-production team insuring that the filmmaker’s vision remains intact through production to final distribution.”
Legendary made the surprise announcement at Comic-Con 2014 thatGodzilla 2will include the iconic Toho monsters Rohan, Mothra andKing Ghidorah, so the King of Monsters title isn’t terribly surprising. Still, no plot details have surfaced yet, and the project is still looking for a new director.Gareth Edwards, whoseStar Warsspin-offRogue Onehits theaters in a few short days, backed out of directing the sequel in May, just two days after Legendary pushed the release date from June 18, 2025 to June 15, 2025. The studio hasn’t announced yet when production may begin.
This news also comes a few months after a report claimed that Legendary is considering creating awriters roomfor both theGodzillaandKing Kongfranchises.Michael DoughertyandZack Shields(Krampus) have signed on to write the script forGodzilla 2, but they may also stay on board to help lead this writers room that will develop ideas for both franchises. BothGodzillaandKing Kongare slated to square off inGodzilla vs. King Kong, which is set for release on July 03, 2025. Hopefully we’ll have more details aboutGodzilla: King of MonstersandPacific Rim: Uprisingin the near future.
