New 'Godzilla 2' and 'Pacific Rim: Maelstrom' Titles Revealed!

In a shocking turn of events, Legendary Pictures revealed the new titles for the hotly anticipated sequels to 'Godzilla' and 'Pacific Rim' in a hirinmg announcement press release. This is definitely an unorthodox way of making an announcement and could mean these new titles are simply working titles but this is still exciting.

Here is the press release in full:

Legendary today announced the hiring of three veteran production executives to its feature film operations including Herbert W. Gains, who has been named EVP of Physical Production, Valerie Flueger Veras who has been named SVP of Post- Production and Sara Flamm who will take on the SVP Physical Production role. The new additions were announced by Mary Parent, Legendary’s Vice Chairman of Worldwide Production.

“Herb comes to us with a tremendous body of experience working alongside some of the most prolific filmmakers in our industry,” said Parent. “His strong business acumen and commitment to supporting the vision of storytellers with preeminent production resources makes him an excellent complement to our team here at Legendary.” Gains will report directly to Parent, effective immediately.

Best known for his work as Executive Producer on such films as Warner Bros’ The Judge and Watchmen, as well as the recently released Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from Paramount, 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. Gains will also work closely with the post-production team insuring that the filmmaker’s vision remains intact through production to final distribution.

“I’m extremely gratified to be entrusted with this unique opportunity,” said Gains. “Legendary’s evolution over the past decade has been nothing short of remarkable. I am proud to take a key role in the company’s continued growth in feature film production and excited by the potential of its established franchises and the diverse slate of films currently in development.”

Reporting to Gains at Legendary, is Valerie Flueger Veras, who will assume the role of SVP of Post-Production. “I have had the good fortune of working closely with Valerie on multiple films over the last few years,” said Parent. “She brings experience from all aspects of filmmaking to the post-production process and really understands how to support filmmakers whether they are making an intimate character drama or a big VFX driven tentpole.”

Flueger Veras is a seasoned executive who has lead the post-production efforts on some of the most critically-acclaimed films of the last decade including Oscar-nominated feature films, The Revenant, Selma and Nebraska. As SVP of Post-Production, Flueger Veras will immediately begin overseeing post on the upcoming Spring action film, Kong: Skull Island.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Legendary,” said Flueger Veras. “In addition to having an opportunity to re-team with Mary Parent who I have long respected, I am extremely excited to be working alongside such an imaginative and highly respected team of professionals and can’t wait to dive in on this truly iconic slate of films.”

Rounding out Legendary’s production team is Sara Flamm, who will step into the SVP of Physical Production role and will also report to Gains. “Sara brings with her a wealth of experience working on the types of genre films that Legendary is best known for,” said Parent. “We’re excited to be adding her expertise to this skilled new team.”

Most recently Flamm worked alongside Gains as Unit Production Manager on on Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and the upcoming film Geostorm. She has also worked as Production Supervisor on numerous hit films including The Judge as well as comic adaptations, Green Lantern and Legendary’s own Watchmen. In Flamm’s new role she has already begun work on the production of Pacific Rim: Uprising, currently shooting in Australia.

“Having worked with Legendary in the past, I’ve long admired their focus on delivering a truly elevated cinematic experience to their audiences,” said Flamm. They’ve had an incredible history of blockbuster films, and I’m looking forward to being a part of this team’s continued success.”

Did you catch them in that wall of text? If not it appears that 'Pacifc Rim: Uprising' is our new title instead of Maelstrom and the temporary title of 'Godzilla 2'  has been replaced by the much cooler sounding 'Godzilla: King of Monsters'.

I'm not a big fan of the new Pacific Rim title since Maelstrom was such a unique name but I guess I'll just have to get used to it.  'Godzilla: King of Monsters' on the other hand is awesome! It's a nice call back to the americanization of the orginal 'Gojira' and I think it will be a very buzz worthy name that will get alot of attention. As I said above it is quite possible that these are both still working titles so take them with a grain of salt until we see them on some official marketing materials.

What do you think of the new titles?