Look at us, going on as if the Pacific Rim sequel will be called Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. In the beginning, it was. Star John Boyega posted a shot of his script folder emblazoned with the name, but thanks to a new press release from Legendary that doesn’t really have much to do with the film, both this sequel and the one for Godzilla received new names.

Legendary announced Herbert W. Gaines as the new EVP of Physical Production, as well as a few other new hires. The release accompanying the news stated, “Gains’ responsibilities will include overseeing production of Legendary’s feature film slate including such highly anticipated projects as Pacific Rim: Uprising, Pokemon’s Detective Pikachu, and Godzilla: King of Monsters.”

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Image via Warner Bros.

The Maelstrom name didn’t offer much in terms of plot clues for the sequel, unless another giant portal opens up in the ocean to let more kaiju into our world. But we can start predicting what Uprising means.

We’ve seen set photos of Boyega, playing the son of Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost, sprinting through an impoverished area, filled with homeless living in camping tents. Guillermo del Toro, who helmed the first film, also teased that the sequel will address the question of what does humanity do with all this Jaeger technology will no more monsters to fight? Already I’m thinking of a war among the classes or something like that, but these are just the first official kernels of information from a largely mysterious project.

Then there’s Godzilla: King of Monsters. In 1956, Toho released Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which was an earlier example of Americanization. It was essentially a heavily edited and heavily dubbed version of the 1954 Japanese original: 16 minutes of footage were cut, while actor Raymond Burr served as the English narrator. The title for the new sequel could just be a fun homage, or maybe it’s a tease of the creature’s upcoming face-off against King Kong in Godzilla vs. King Kong in 2020.

Krampus director Michael Doherty will helm the next Godzilla (March 22, 2019), while Steven S. DeKnight heads Pacific Rim: Uprising (February 23, 2018).

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Image via Warner Bros./Legendary
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Image via Warner Bros.