Legendary Pictures, the company behind 2013's PACIFIC RIM and the 2014 American GODZILLA film, has a very exciting slate of kaiju movies ahead of them – KONG: SKULL ISLAND in 2017, a sequel to PACIFIC RIM in 2018, a sequel to GODZILLA in 2019, and GODZILLA VS. KONG in 2020.
Looking at that line-up, you may notice that only the movies involving Kong appear to have solid titles – the GODZILLA follow-up has simply been referred to as GODZILLA 2, while there has been some confusion over what to call the PACIFIC RIM sequel: is it PACIFIC RIM 2 or PACIFIC RIM: MAELSTROM?
The answer to the PACIFIC RIM question is, it's neither of those options. A new press release from Legendary has announced that the second chapter in the PACIFIC RIM saga is officially titled PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING.
That's not the most exciting title, especially given the overabundance of films that have had "RISE" in the title in recent years, but at least it's not called RISE OF THE KAIJU.
Along with the UPRISING reveal comes the first mention of GODZILLA 2's real title: GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS. It's a fitting title that also serves as a nod to the original, 1954 Godzilla film, which was released in the U.S. as GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS!
PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING is being directed by Steven S. DeKnight and is scheduled for release on February 23, 2018. John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Levi Meaden, Adria Arjona, Ivanna Sahkno, Rahart Adams, Shyrley Rodriguez, Zhang Jin, Wesley Wong, Lily Ji, Chen Zitong, Lan Yingying, Qian Yongchen, Xiao Yang, and Kim Jeong-Hoon star.
GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS is in the hands of TRICK 'R TREAT / KRAMPUS director Mike Dougherty, who is currently writing the script with Zach Shields. Godzilla's next adventure reaches theatres on March 22, 2019.