Pacific Rim 2 has a new title and it couldn't be more basic

Guillermo del Toro first announced pre-production had commenced in 2015, under the name Pacific Rim: Maelstrom

Though Pacific Rim was still a strong hit at the global box office, its relative failure to hit home at the US box office has frustratingly meant the film's never been given much of a due credit.

Intermixing Guillermo del Toro's unique visual style with big budget thrills and beautifully realised characters, it's a film that deserves to go down in the history books as one of the most original Hollywood films of late; so it's at least interesting to see the film get picked up for a sequel by Legendary.

Del Toro has long discussed the possibility of returning to the world of Kaijus vs. Jaegers, with the director announcing last year that he was commencing pre-production of the project under the intriguing title of Pacific Rim: Maelstrom.

However, last February saw the announcement del Toro was stepping down from directing duties, with Steven S. DeKnight - the man behind Starz series Spartacus - taking up the role directing a script by Doctor Strange scribe John Spaihts.

Legendary has now revealed the film is undergoing a title change (via ComingSoon); swapping the original-sounding Maelstrom title for one of those three standard sequel addendums, Pacific Rim: Uprising.

It's not the most comforting piece of news; with the sequel seemingly drifting further and further from del Toro's singular vision of placing a deeply human story in the context of robots and monsters punching each other, to a film with all the vibes it will be nothing but robots and monsters punching each other.

That said, the sequel does have Star Wars' John Boyega on board playing Idris Elba's son, so there's hope a strong presence can carry the film.

Pacific Rim: Uprising hits cinemas 23 February 2018.