Whether a sequel to Guillermo del Toro‘s 2013 giant robots vs. giant monsters flick Pacific Rim would be made or not was unknown for a time. The movie cost $190 million to make, but, for reasons beyond human understanding, only made $101.8 million here in the States.

Thankfully the movie still did strong overseas, scoring $111.9 million in China and $309.2 million overall, bringing its worldwide grand total to $411 million. Because of this, Pacific Rim 2 has been confirmed and an official release date has been locked in. Also announced is the development of an animated series set in the Pacific Rim world and the continuation of the comic book series.

Continue below to see a video of del Toro making the announcement.

Del Toro will return to direct the sequel, which has been set for an April 7, 2017 release date. Yes, fans will have to wait patiently for this one. That’s scarily close to the first movie’s 2020s setting.

Of the news, del Toro said:

The screenplay for Pacific Rim 2 will be written by del Toro, Zak Penn, and Travis Beacham. It was reported back in October that the script was being worked on, but the sequel wasn’t official yet.

It’s expected that the original cast including Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman will be returning.

As mentioned in the video below, del Toro is currently finishing work on his upcoming horror project Crimson Peak, which will hit theaters in 2015.

Video

[Source: BuzzFeed]