Now that At the Mountains of Madness has been killed by Universal, Guillermo del Toro has made it official that Pacific Rim is the next film he’ll get behind the camera for. A press release by Legendary Pictures confirms both the film and del Toro‘s involvement, and can be read below, thanks to Deadline:

Legendary Pictures announced today that Guillermo del Toro is directing the company’s upcoming feature, Pacific Rim, confirmed as his next film. The film has already entered pre-production and will begin principal photography in September 2011. Pacific Rim will be released during summer 2013 and will be produced by Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni for Legendary Pictures and Guillermo del Toro.

Stated Guillermo del Toro: “We started developing PAC RIM a while ago with the mad passion and enthusiasm of a project unwatched and unchecked by politics or comparisons. We designed and shepherded the movie we want to make. We start shooting in September and we hit the ground running because we are so in sync. My partnership with Legendary represents, both in scale and creative demands, a huge step forward for me.”

As for the director’s reasons for taking on Pacific Rim following Mountains’ death, Deadline managed to talk to the filmmaker, and he gave a fairly detailed analysis of the situation regarding both that and Rim. Some choice quotes are as follows.

On his reaction to Universal canceling the movie:

“In my mind, we were given the parameters of a budget and screenplay, and I was given the chance by the studio to create a visual presentation. They were blown away by the visual presentation, they openly admitted to loving the screenplay, saying it was dead on. And we hit the target on the budget they gave us, not a figure I arrived at. This came after months and months of story boarding, haggling with VFX companies, and bringing down the budget number. The week before the decision, I was scouting in the border of Canada and Alaska. We were a week away from opening offices in Toronto. We were crewed up, and frankly, I am as puzzled as most people are. One of the biggest, biggest points for me with this movie was the scope and the R, going hand in hand.”

On how it could have performed at the box office, with all of the various factors converging:

“As far as the movie grossing that much, obviously I’m not impartial, but I have to believe that with 3D, Tom Cruise, Jim Cameron, the scope of Lovecraft’s novel that is one his best regarded and most widely known works, I would venture that it could absolutely have been done. I think the R should be worn like a badge of merit in promoting the movie.”

On Tom Cruise‘s current attachment:

“…in the last few days, I spoke to Tom, who has been incredibly supportive and who said, ‘Let’s keep going, let’s make this movie down the road.’ He’s definitely that interested and that happy where we were creatively. So we have good legs to travel on, if the time and the opportunity present itself.”

He also said that they strongly intend to begin shooting in September, and he’s probably itching to start directing after two stalled projects (the other being The Hobbit). I’m glad to see that Tom Cruise is still interested in taking it on, and at least del Toro is remaining somewhat optimistic that it can happen in the future. And, as much as I would’ve liked to see this come together, you have to consider Universal’s shaky economic status over the past few years; movies like this aren’t easy to justify (in terms of production cost), and they need to protect themselves. Being the optimist that I am, I think we’ll eventually get this film, and we just have to wait a little while.

What do you think of del Toro taking on Pacific Rim next, and of his comments about Mountains?