Earlier today, Legendary Pictures issued a press release that announced the hiring of Herbert W. Gains as the studio's new Executive Vice President of Physical Production. While that news may not be terribly exciting to your everyday movie fan, the announcement also included the new official titles for Godzilla 2, which will now be called Godzilla: King of Monsters, and Pacific Rim 2, which will now be called Pacific Rim: Uprising. This news comes just a month after it seemed that a different title was confirmed for Pacific Rim 2.

Last month, production began on Pacific Rim 2, with star John Boyega sending out the first photo from the set. The image featured a personalized script cover with the actor's initials in the bottom right corner, with the title Pacific Rim: Maelstrom clearly displayed on the cover. That title had been rumored for quite some time, but it seems that the studio has changed the title once again. Here's an excerpt from Legendary's press release, which mentions Godzilla: King of Monsters and Pacific Rim: Uprising as two of the movie's Herbert W. Gains will oversee.

"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."

Legendary made the surprise announcement at Comic-Con 2014 that Godzilla 2 will include the iconic Toho monsters Rohan, Mothra and King Ghidorah, so the King of Monsters title isn't terribly surprising. Still, no plot details have surfaced yet, and the project is still looking for a new director. Gareth Edwards, whose Star Wars spin-off Rogue One hits theaters in a few short days, backed out of directing the sequel in May, just two days after Legendary pushed the release date from June 8, 2018 to March 22, 2019. The studio hasn't announced yet when production may begin.

This news also comes a few months after a report claimed that Legendary is considering creating a writers room for both the Godzilla and King Kong franchises. Michael Dougherty and Zack Shields (Krampus) have signed on to write the script for Godzilla 2, but they may also stay on board to help lead this writers room that will develop ideas for both franchises. Both Godzilla and King Kong are slated to square off in Godzilla vs. King Kong, which is set for release on May 29, 2020. Hopefully we'll have more details about Godzilla: King of Monsters and Pacific Rim: Uprising in the near future.