It's been nearly a year since Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim hit theaters, and many fans have been wondering if a sequel would see the light of day. The US opening for Pacific Rim put immediate sequel plans into doubt, but, with it bringing in over $400 million in theaters worldwide, an official release date for Pacific Rim 2 has been set.

As seen in the video below, Guillermo del Toro has announced an April 7, 2017 release date for Pacific Rim 2 and he also mentioned that there are plans for an animated series that would come out before the sequel hits theaters. There are specific story details, but we know that Guillermo del Toro has been working with screenwriter Zak Penn (X-Men 2The Avengers) and Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim) on the new story that will follow Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori after the events of the first film. Here's a tease from del Toro from a recent interview:

“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.”

With Legendary now at Universal it looks like they'll be distributing the sequel, as opposed to Warner Bros. Guillermo del Toro will be making the press rounds to promote The Strain for the next month or two, so we'll have an opportunity to ask del Toro about The Strain, Pacific Rim 2, Crimson Peak, and other upcoming projects in the very near future.