‘Pacific Rim’ sequel ‘Maelstrom’ begins filming in Toronto in November

TORONTO — Director Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that he will begin shooting a sequel to Pacific Rim in November.

Cameras will roll in Toronto until well into 2016, mostly at Pinewood Toronto Studios.

Global News has learned the working title for the follow-up is Maelstrom.

Pacific Rim was filmed in Toronto from November 2011 until April 2012 with a budget of nearly $200 million. Released in July 2013, the movie grossed $411 million — mostly from overseas markets.

READ MORE: What the critics said about Pacific Rim

The futuristic flick followed pilots controlling huge robots called Jaegers battling Kaiju monsters emerging from a portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

At last week’s San Diego Comic Con, where Del Toro was promoting his made-in-Ontario gothic horror flick Crimson Peak (out Oct. 16), the filmmaker said Pacific Rim 2 picks up a few years after the original and focuses on the Kaiju.

Del Toro once again partnered with Travis Beacham to write the script, this time with Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand).

BELOW: See Toronto’s Elizabeth Street on the day of filming and as it appears in the movie Pacific Rim.

No casting information has been announced but Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman and Rinko Kikuchi are expecting to reprise their roles.

The movie is scheduled for release in Aug. 4, 2017.

Del Toro, whose credits include Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, lives part-time in Toronto. In addition to directing Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak in the city, he is executive producer of the Toronto-shot series The Strain and the 2013 made-in-Toronto horror film Mama.