'Pacific Rim' Sequel Set for 2017, Preceded by Animated Series

This is turning out to be one epic day for fans of giant robots slugging it out on the big screen. Right now audiences should be sitting down to take in Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, which will probably bank a cool $1B for Paramount. And over on the Universal lot they have just confirmed what fans were hoping for, that Guillermo Del Toro would get a sequel to Pacific Rim.

After revealing a few weeks ago that he and Zak Penn were working on a Pacific Rim 2 script in hopes it would be green lit, the studio has now slotted the film for April 7th 2017. There aren't any plot details yet but we can probably expect new Jaeger designs, bigger Kaiju, and the return of Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi. Del Toro tells Buzzfeed...

“The characters I love will return. Raleigh, Mako, Newt, Gottlieb and who knows, maybe even Hannibal Chau – but we are taking them into a fresh territory that will display amazing sights and battles. The first film set the stage and now we’re ready to have a blast.”

There will also be a Pacific Rim animated series arriving some time before the sequel. More details on that when it becomes available. I'm sure our own +Julian Lytle is doing backflips right now.

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Guillermo Del Toro and Zak Penn Working On 'Pacific Rim 2' Script

While there has been faint chatter of a sequel to Pacific Rim, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have yet to make a firm decision. Guillermo Del Toro's first film checked in with about $400M mostly earned overseas which isn't surprising given the many influences from Japanese culture. During the Austin TV Fest where he was promoting his FX series, The Strain,  Del Toro confirmed to Buzzfeed that he and Zak Penn are working on the script for Pacific Rim 2 as if it will definitely happen...

Del Toro:  “I’m working very, very hard with Zak Penn. We’ve been working for a few months now in secret. We found a way to twist it around. Travis Beacham [co-writer of the first film, now working on Fox’s Hieroglyph] was involved in the storyline and now I’m writing with Zak because Travis has become a TV mogul.” 

Penn has been a part of some big films but also a lot of duds. He helped develop the story for Marvel's The Avengers, and co-wrote the screenplays for X-men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk. The script will take place after the first movie and brings back jaeger pilots Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori, played by Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi respectively.

Del Toro: “Some people were wondering if we were going to do the prequel. I was never interested in doing that first wave of invasion. I’m going for very new, very crazy ideas on the second one, which are very different from the first one — but you will get really great spectacle.”

Del Toro says he hopes to shoot it after his next project which is presumably the horror Crimson Peak, which stars Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Hunnam.

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Len Wiseman Directing 'Black Chapter'; Frank Marshall Takes 'The Longest Night'

* As the one responsible for the Underworld movies and part of the Sleepy Hollow producing team, Len Wiseman knows his way around the supernatural genre. He rarely stays away from it for long (remember he directed Live Free or Die Hard), and now he's getting back in with the supernatural thriller, Black Chapter. The story he developed with writer Zak Penn follows an "FBI agent who is drawn into a classified military program that trains its operatives to use paranormal activities.” Let's see if he finds a role for his wife, Kate Beckinsale, as he usually does. [Variety]

* Indiana Jones and Jurassic World producer Frank Marshall is about to direct his first film since 2006's Eight Below. He's agreed to helm real life tale, The Longest Night, adapted from Sean Flynn's GQ article about  “a true-life Coast Guard rescue operation undertaken against the most impossible odds.” Sounds potentially interesting, although Marshall is hardly the most inspiring of filmmakers. We'll see if he's as chatty about this one as he is with the blockbusters he produces. [THR]

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Zak Penn and Chris Morgan teaming on untitled sci-fi film

While Joss Whedon quite openly tossed aside Zak Penn's writing on The Avengers in favor of his own, leaving him with merely a story credit, Penn's career for the most part has been a successful one in the realm of superheroes and science fiction. Ok, so he was a large part of the reason why X-men: The Last Stand was such a disaster, but he's made up for it a little with The Incredible Hulk and the TV show Alphas. Now he's teaming up with another devoted genre fan in Chris Morgan for an untitled science fiction pitch picked up by Universal.

We don't know any details on it yet, but Morgan involved you can bet it'll be high octane popcorn entertainment first and foremost. Morgan is the lead writer for the Fast and the Furious franchise, currently scripting Fast & Furious 6, and will produce this new project through his Chris Morgan Productions. Penn will write and direct, marking his first turn behind the camera since the 2007 improv poker comedy, The Grand.

The film is being described as an action story similar to this year's Chronicle, so read into that way you want. To me, Chronicle wasn't truly an action movie so this makes for an odd description to say the least. I can only assume it means there will be young people with powers. [Deadline]

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'The Karate Kid' sequel moves forward with Zak Penn to script

Nobody was more surprised by how good The Karate Kid was than me. It seemed like a disastrous idea, remaking the beloved 1980s Ralph Macchio classic and using that tater tot Jaden Smith of all people? Jackie Chan as Mr. Miyagi? Nah, no way. Not only did the film get all the emotional beats of the original just right, but it went on to score over $55M in it's opening weekend alone. A sequel was all but assured, and not long after Sony hired Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reif(Kung Fu Panda) to start cranking out the script.

Then it was like the film fell off the face of the earth. Nothing was heard about it until now, as Variety reports production is being geared up again with Zak Penn hired to pen the script. It's not confirmed, but I'm guessing he'll be working on a totally new script and ignoring anything done by the previous writers. Penn has become one of the go-to guys for superhero flicks, having written Elektra, The Incredible Hulk, and X-men: The Last Stand. Yikes. Most recently he created the SyFy Channel original series, Alphas.

Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan aren't signed yet but are expected to return. There's also been no word on the previous film's director, Harald Zwart.

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Screenwriter says Avengers Movie Might Suck

It's okay to be cautious and all and keeping expectations low is sometimes a good thing, but...I actually kinda like it when the writer thinks his movie will be good. Maybe that's just me. Call me crazy. Zak Penn, who's scripting the upcoming Avengers film seems to be a glass half empty kinda dude. He says in an interview MTV

"It's hard to make a good movie. We all have the best intentions, and it still might suck ... I'm taking a meeting next week with the 'Thor' and 'Captain America' people, and we are all going to get together, and I will see what is going to happen. I'll see where they are leaving the characters; it's pretty complicated."

Well I'm all excited now! How about you?

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