For awhile, the future of the proposed PACIFIC RIM franchise seemed to be on very shaky ground with Guillermo Del Toro trying to plow ahead as best as he could, even as concerns about the financial viability of the series continued to surface. However, with Steven DeKnight taking over the director's chair for a sequel and Del Toro sliding into a producing role, progress is being made on kaijus fighting robots once again on the big screen.
And part of that is bringing in Derek Connolly to help work on the script and get the PACIFIC RIM follow-up in a ready position for production. Connolly, who co-wrote JURASSIC WORLD and has since worked on the sequel to that monster hit, has earned quite a bit of credibility in penning big blockbusters of this nature before and makes perfect sense as the latest screenwriter to take a stab at sorting the film out. In the past, Del Toro, Zak Penn and Jon Spaihts have all taken passes at the script. It's uncertain if Connolly has been brought in to enhance what those previous names have already been working on or if they're going to scrap what they previously had and go for a new approach… But Legendary is definitely interested in making a film that improves upon Del Toro's initial effort, and Connolly is the latest piece of the puzzle they're putting together to get this sequel there.