Guillermo Del Toro reveals why he is not directing 'Pacific Rim 2'

'Pacific Rim' was one of the most un-expected hits of 2013 and as soon as it was announced that there will be a sequel to the movie, everyone thought that Guillermo Del Toro will be helming the second installment.

But quashing dreams of his fans, the veteran director has claimed he isn't directing 'Pacific Rim Uprising' because of the lengthy wait between shoots, reports Contactmusic.com.

While speaking to a leading US entertainment website, the 53-year-old filmmaker shared that he stepped away from the sequel as his other projects took over and he no longer had the time to dedicate to the feature.

He noted, "I prepped my version of 'Pacific Rim 2', which was I developed the screenplay, I storyboarded and designed the creatures and the robots and all that. And then that suspension of six months, I left and helped select the new director, Steven DeKnight, and that was about it."

Guillermo instead worked on 'The Shape of Water', for which he is now receiving critical acclaim, but admits he only stepped away from 'Pacific Rim Uprising' because of a delay caused by another film taking up the studio space they were supposed to use to film the sequel.

"You have a thing called a hold on the stages. When you get a hold on Pinewood Studios, they hold the stages for you. But if somebody challenges you, which, in this instance, was 'xXx 3' - the one with Vin Diesel. They came in and challenged us. And Legendary [Pictures] said we're not going to challenge that, and that meant delaying the movie at least six or seven months," explained Del Toro.

'Pacific Rim Uprising' is set to star John Boyega, who will play Jack, the son of Idris Elba's leading character from the first movie, Stacker Pentecost.

The flick is scheduled for release in March this year.