Pacific Rim (film)

Pacific Rim is a 2013 American science fiction monster film directed by Guillermo del Toro, and starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, and Ron Perlman. The screenplay is credited to Travis Beacham and del Toro but includes contributions from Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton, and Drew Pearce, with the story credited to Beacham.

The film is set in the 2020s, when Earth is at war with the Kaijus,[a]  colossal monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers:[b]  gigantic humanoid mecha, each controlled by at least two pilots, whose minds are joined by a neural bridge. Focusing on the war's later days, the story follows Raleigh Becket, a washed-up Jaeger pilot called out of retirement and teamed with rookie pilot Mako Mori as part of a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kaijus.

Principal photography began on November 14, 2011 in Toronto and lasted through April 2012. The film was produced byLegendary Pictures and distributed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros. Warner Bros. Pictures]. It was released on July 12, 2013 including releases in 3-Dand IMAX 3D, receiving generally positive reviews; the visual effects and action sequences were highly praised. While the film performed poorly at the United States box office, it was highly successful in other territories.[7]  It earned a worldwide total of more than $411 million, including $114 million in China, its largest market. A sequel was announced in 2014, and is scheduled to be released by Universal Pictures on April 7, 2017.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Plot 
 * 2 Cast
 * 3 Themes
 * 4 Production
 * 4.1 Development
 * 4.2 Principal photography
 * 4.3 Design
 * 4.4 Visual effects
 * 5 Video game
 * 6 Music
 * 7 Marketing and promotion
 * 8 Release
 * 8.1 Box office
 * 8.2 Critical response
 * 8.3 Accolades
 * 8.4 Home media
 * 9 Sequels
 * 10 Notes
 * 11 References
 * 12 External links

Plot
In 2013, human cities come under attack by the Kaijus, colossal beasts who come to Earth through a portal on the Pacific Ocean floor called the Breach. To combat them the Pacific Rim nations build the Jaegers, equally colossal robotic war machines. Each Jaeger is piloted by two people whose brains are linked (called "drifting") to share the mental load of operating the machine. The Jaegers are initially effective, but many are destroyed as the Kaijus grow more powerful and their attacks more frequent. In 2025, the governments deem the Jaeger program ineffective and discontinue it in favor of building massive coastal walls. The four remaining Jaegers are redeployed to Hong Kong to defend the coast until the wall is completed. Jaeger commander Stacker Pentecost devises a plan to end the threat permanently by destroying the portal with a nuclear bomb.

Pentecost recruits retired Jaeger pilot Raleigh Becket to pilot Gipsy Danger, the Jaeger he and his brother Yancy once operated together. During a mission in 2020, Yancy was killed by a Kaiju while still mentally linked to his brother. Raleigh travels to Hong Kong with Pentecost and begins the process of finding a new co-pilot. Raleigh selects Mako Mori, the director of the Jaeger refurbishment project and Pentecost's adopted daughter. Pentecost reluctantly allows Mako to participate in a test run with Raleigh. During the test, Mako loses control and nearly discharges Gipsy Danger '​s cannon in the hangar. Pentecost deems her unfit for combat and grounds the pair. When two Kaijus attack Hong Kong, destroying two Jaegers and disabling a third, Pentecost is forced to allow them to pilot Gipsy Danger. The Kaijus are defeated.

Meanwhile, scientist Newton Geiszler creates a device that allows him to drift with a Kaiju brain. He discovers that the Kaijus are not wild beasts, but cloned living weapons that share a hive mind and fight at the behest of a race of alien colonists who wish to invade Earth. Pentecost demands that Geiszler repeat the experiment on a different Kaiju brain and sends him to Hannibal Chau, a criminal who sells Kaiju body parts on the black market. Geiszler commissions Chau to recover an intact brain. Chau's men investigate one of the fallen Kaijus and are attacked by its unborn offspring, which devours Chau before dying. Geiszler links with its brain and learns that the ocean portal only opens for Kaiju DNA, meaning the bombing mission will fail.

The two remaining Jaegers commence the plan to bomb the portal. Pentecost is forced to pilot Striker Eureka, the other remaining Jaeger, after one of its pilots is injured; Raleigh and Mako pilot Gipsy Danger. Arriving at the portal, they are ambushed by three Kaijus, including the largest ever encountered. A violent battle ensues, crippling Gipsy Danger and rendering Striker Eureka unable to deliver the bomb. Geiszler warns the two Jaegers that they must take a Kaiju into the portal with them for the bombing to work, and Pentecost decides to detonate his bomb immediately to clear a path to the portal for Raleigh and Mako. Since Gipsy Danger has a nuclear reactor core they can use it to destroy the portal. Pentecost detonates his bomb, destroying one of the Kaiju and his Jaeger and injures the largest Kaiju. Gipsy Dangerkills the third Kaiju and the largest Kaiju and uses its body to open the portal. Once inside, Raleigh ejects Mako's escape pod and sets the Jaeger to self-destruct. The Jaeger erupts on the other side of the portal, destroying the invading aliens and the portal. Raleigh is able to jettison his escape pod and travel back before the portal collapses. Mako and Raleigh's escape pods surface safely in the Pacific, and the duo embrace as rescue helicopters arrive.

In a post-credits scene, Chau cuts his way out of the newborn Kaiju's stomach.

Cast
Top to bottom: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, andRinko Kikuchi star in the film as Raleigh Becket, Stacker Pentecost and Mako Mori respectively.*Charlie Hunnam as Raleigh Becket:
 * A washed-up former pilot called out of retirement by the Pan Pacific Defense Corps.[8]  On casting Hunnam, del Toro stated: "I saw him and I thought he had an earnest, really honest nature. And he was the kind of guy that I can relate to, as a male audience member I go, 'I like that guy. I would like to have a few beers with that guy' … he has an earthy quality.[9]  Describing the character, Hunnam stated: "When you meet me, in the beginning of the story, I've suffered a giant loss. Not only has it killed my sense of self-worth, but also my will to fight and keep on going. And then, Rinko and Idris, and a couple other people, bring me out of retirement to try to help with this grand push. I think that journey is a very relatable one. Everybody, at some point in their life, has fallen down and not felt like getting back up, but you have to, no matter how difficult it is."[10]  Hunnam was also considered for the role of Prince Nuada in del Toro's previous film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]  Paul Michael Wyers plays Raleigh as a child.


 * Idris Elba as Stacker Pentecost:
 * Raleigh's commanding officer. On selecting Elba, del Toro stated: "This is a movie where I have had to deal with more dialogue than ever, and the way I cast the movie was—who do I want to hear say these things? Who do I want Charlie Hunnam to go against? Who can really tell Charlie Hunnam 'sit down and listen'?"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GDT-Collider_11-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  In another interview, the director said: "I wanted to have Idris not be the blonde, square-jawed, Anglo, super hip marine that knows [everything]. I wanted somebody that could bring a lot of authority, but that you could feel the weight of the world on his shoulders. When I watched Luther, that's the essence of the character... Luther is carrying literally the evils of the world on his shoulders. He's doing penance for all humanity... Idris is one of those actors that is capable of embodying humanity, in almost like a Rodin sculpture-type, larger than life, almost like a Russian realism statue, you know, big hands, all the turmoil of humanity in his eyes. I wanted somebody that you could have doubts internally, and very few guys can do that."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN-1_14-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]  To prepare for the role, Elba watched footage of politicians David Cameron and Barack Obama, as well as Russell Crowe in Gladiator andMel Gibson in Braveheart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[13]  Del Toro initially offered the role to Tom Cruise, who declined because of scheduling conflicts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[14]


 * Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori:
 * Raleigh's co-pilot who lost her family in a Kaiju attack. Though Mori possesses a strength and fury that should serve well against the Kaijus, Pentecost is reluctant to use her, partly because of a fatherly bond and partly because he knows she is still fighting the terror of her childhood.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-trauma_17-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[15]  Del Toro stated: "I was very careful how I built the movie. One of the other things I decided was that I wanted a female lead who has the equal force as the male leads. She's not going to be a sex kitten, she's not going to come out in cutoff shorts and a tank top, and it's going to be a real earnestly drawn character."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Star_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16]  Noting that the other actors were exhausted and "destroyed physically" by filming in the intensive Jaeger cockpit harnesses, del Toro said: "The only one that didn't break was Rinko Kikuchi, the girl. She never complained... I asked Rinko her secret and she said 'I think of gummi bears and flowers.' I try to do that in my life now."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kline_19-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]  Mana Ashida plays Mako as a child.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[18]


 * Charlie Day as Dr. Newton Geiszler:
 * A scientist studying the Kaijus. Day stated: "Certainly myself and Burn Gorman provide a little bit of much needed levity, it's a break from the monsters and the guys fighting. But then the character gets thrust into the story in a way that his life is seriously at risk and it becomes a little more action oriented and a little more horror movie-esque. So, he kinda bounces back between being humorous and also being real... the rest of these guys, they look really good in their suits and they've got abs, they can kick and fight and punch. Newt is sort of the 'everyman' and he's flawed and he's arrogant."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[19]  Del Toro gave Geiszler the mentality of a celebrity chef, with tattoos and a "big personality".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Julian_22-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[20]  According to the director, Day was cast based on his performance in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: "He comes out with a stick, and he has a monologue about what it is to hunt the rats in the basement. It was very funny, but he was coming from character. He was not doing big stuff, he was, like, really mourning and lamenting his job, you know, how inhuman it is. And I thought, 'This guy is great at shading and comedy.' There are moments in the movie where he delivers them both." Trek Buccino portrays Geiszler as a child.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[21]


 * Max Martini as Herc Hansen:
 * Chuck's father and co-pilot. Kazinsky stated Martini hated the fact that he was cast as Chuck's father, being only 13 years Kazinsky's senior. However Kazinsky said they developed a bond while filming, "Because we were working so tight together, we would finish and then we would go out for dinner every night and we would go to the gym together on days off we had... The emotional scene toward the end with the father-son parting, it was very easy for me to play because I had grown to actually genuinely love Max as a man and as a friend." Kazinsky revealed that Herc and Chuck's pet bulldog was del Toro's idea and said, "The dog's name was Max, ironically, and we ended up using Max for so many things. The story was that Herc and Chuck have difficulty communicating, that they communicated via the dog, and all the love that they couldn't show each other they would show the dog."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LATimes_2013-07-15_24-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[22]  The role was originally written for Ron Perlman, but del Toro decided the scenes between Perlman's Herc and Hunnam's Raleigh "might start to feel like Sons of Anarchy 2.0".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[23]


 * Robert Kazinsky as Chuck Hansen:
 * An Australian Jaeger pilot considered the finest soldier left in the Resistance. He and his father pilot Striker Eureka, "the strongest and the fastest" Jaeger with eleven Kaiju kills, and make up the Resistance's "go-to team".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[24]  Kazinsky, a fan of science-fiction, was initially drawn by the film's concept, "My immediate reaction was 'Holy crap, that's cool.' In the hands of somebody else, you might sit there and go, 'Well, this might be terrible,' but with del Toro doing it, you kind of go, 'This is going to be amazing.'".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LATimes_2013-07-15_24-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[22]  Reflecting on his experience in the film, Kazinsky said in an interview, "The most fun I have ever had in my entire life was Pacific Rim, playing Chuck was incredibly fun."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[25]


 * Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau:
 * A black marketeer who makes a living dealing Kaiju organs. Perlman stated, "I actually think this character was designed to be played by another ethnicity other than myself. And somewhere along the way, [del Toro] had the notion, 'Wouldn't it be interesting to turn this guy into more of an invention.' So, in other words, somebody takes on a persona that completely sounds like he's someone else and acts like he's someone else but he's really, you know, as you see me. That added a dimension to the larger-than-life aspect of the character... I'm playing somebody very close to my own origins. But a completely made-up persona... which makes him even more full of shit. And I think that's the charm of the guy—that he's kind of elusive, hard to pin down.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[26]  Pacific Rim marks Perlman's fifth appearance in a del Toro film. The director stated: "I think the moment you have a guy that is called Hannibal Chau and Ron shows up, and he's from Brooklyn and he's been selling black market organs, you know the whole story... That's all I need to know. If it's any other actor, there's a lot more explaining to do. But when Ron comes in with that look, you can make your own story and it'll be as compelling as anything I can invent. You do a little weightlifting with the audience."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN-1_14-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]  The bird tattoos on Chau's fingers indicate his past as a gangster.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[27]  In the film, Chau states he took the name from his favorite historical figure and his second-favorite Szechuan restaurant in Brooklyn.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kline_19-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]  Del Toro drew inspiration from Burt Lancaster's performance in Elmer Gantry when writing the character.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Boston_30-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[28]


 * Clifton Collins, Jr. as Ops Tendo Choi:
 * A Chinese-American Jaeger technician. Collins described his character as the "brains" behind the Jaegers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[29]


 * Burn Gorman as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb:
 * A scientist studying the Kaijus alongside Geiszler. According to del Toro, Gottlieb is a "tweed-wearing, English, phlegmatic introvert that never leaves the lab". The modest Gottlieb resents Geiszler's arrogance and radical behavior; the duo echo the film's theme of incompatible people functioning together when the time comes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Julian_22-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[20]  Drew Adkins portrays Gottlieb as a child.


 * Diego Klattenhoff as Yancy Becket:
 * Raleigh's older brother and co-pilot. Klattentoff joined the project to work with del Toro. Describing his character, Klattentoff stated: "This is a guy who is looking out for his very eager, younger brother and they were enabled with this gift that gave them the opportunity to kind of save the world. Or help, at least."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[30]  Tyler Stevenson plays Yancy as a child.


 * Ellen McLain as Gipsy Danger AI:
 * The voice of Gipsy Danger's artificial intelligence system.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[31]  Del Toro secured permission from Valve Corporation to cast McLain in homage to GLaDOS, her homicidal AI character in the Portal video games.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-34" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[32]  The director stated: "It was clear to me that we needed something beautiful in that voice. My daughter is my wingman, we had done co-op on Portal 2 for a long time and I did Portal 1 when it came out. It becomes ingrained in you, that voice. I didn't want to use her as a negative force of evil. I called Valve and asked 'Can you give us the filter?' so we went full GLaDOS for the first commercial, but I thought it was too much. If you're a gamer, it's too distracting so we created our own GLaDOS 2.0 filter that's a little less full-on."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AICN-Quint_35-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[33]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Additional Jaeger pilots include Charles Luu, Lance Luu and Mark Luu as the Wei Tang triplets (China), and Robert Maillet and Heather Doerksen as Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky (Russia). Joe Pingue portrays Captain Merrit, the captain of a fishing boat caught in a battle between Jaeger and Kaiju. Santiago Segura plays an aide to Hannibal Chau.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-36" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[34]  Brad William Henke and Larry Joe Campbell portray members of a construction team Raleigh joins after retiring from the Pan Pacific Defense Corps.Robin Thomas, Julian Barnes, and David Richmond-Peck portray U.N. representatives from the United States, Great Britain, and Canada respectively. Sebastian Pigottappears as a Jaeger engineer and Joshua Peace appears as an officer. David Fox plays an old man on a beach, while Jane Watson portrays Raleigh and Yancy's mother in a flashback sequence.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-37" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[35] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-38" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[36] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-39" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[37]  Producer Thomas Tull makes a cameo appearance.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wired-Watercutter_40-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[38]

Themes
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In the film, a Jaeger's neural load is too much for a single pilot to handle alone, meaning they must first be psychically linked to another pilot—a concept called "drifting". When pilots drift, they quickly gain intimate knowledge of each other's memories and feelings, and have no choice but to accept them; del Toro found this concept's dramatic potential compelling. The director expressed his intention that the empathy metaphors extend to real life: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The pilots' smaller stories actually make a bigger point, which is that we're all together in the same robot [in life] ... Either we get along or we die. I didn't want this to be a recruitment ad or anything jingoistic. The idea of the movie is just for us to trust each other, to cross over barriers of color, sex, beliefs, whatever, and just stick together. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro acknowledged this message's simplicity, but said he would have liked to have seen adventure films with similar morals when he was a child.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Boston_30-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[28]  The film's ten primary characters all have "little arcs" conducive to this idea; del Toro stated: "I think that's a great message to give kids... 'That guy you were beating the shit out of ten minutes ago? That's the guy you have to work with five minutes later.' That's life... We can only be complete when we work together." The director noted that Hellboyand The Devil's Backbone told the same message, though the latter conveyed it in a very different way.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beaks1_41-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[39]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film centers on the relationship between Becket and Mori, but is not a love story in a conventional sense. Both are deeply damaged human beings who have decided to suppress their respective traumas. While learning to pilot their Jaeger, they undergo a process of "opening up", gaining access to each other's thoughts, memories and secrets. Their relationship is necessarily one of respect and "perfect trust". Hunnam commented that the film is "a love story without a love story. It's about all of the necessary elements of love without arriving at love itself".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-trauma_17-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[15] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-42" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[40]  Both Becket and Mori have suffered profound personal tragedies; one of the script's central ideas is that two damaged people can metaphorically "become one", with their figurative missing pieces connecting almost like a puzzle.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-43" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[41]  Del Toro emphasized the characters' emotional intimacy by filming their training fight scene the way he would a sex scene.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-timeout-QA_44-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[42]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro, a self-described pacifist, avoided what he termed "car commercial aesthetics" or "army recruitment video aesthetics", and gave the characters Western ranks including "marshal" and "ranger" rather than military ranks such as "captain", "major" or "general". The director stated: "I avoided making any kind of message that says war is good. We have enough firepower in the world."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Star_18-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16]  Del Toro wanted to break from the mass death and destruction featured in contemporary blockbuster films, and made a point of showing the streets and buildings being evacuated before Kaiju attacks, ensuring that the destruction depicted is "completely remorseless". The director stated: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">I don't want people being crushed. I want the joy that I used to get seeing Godzilla toss a tank without having to think there are guys in the tank ... What I think is you could do nothing but echo the moment you're in. There is a global anxiety about how fragile the status quo is and the safety of citizens, but in my mind—honestly—this film is in another realm. There is no correlation to the real world. There is no fear of a copycat kaiju attack because a kaiju saw it on the news and said, 'I'm going to destroy Seattle.' In my case, I'm picking up a tradition. One that started right after World War II and was a coping mechanism, in a way, for Japan to heal the wounds of that war. And it's integral for a kaiju to rampage in the city.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-45" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[43] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Wai Chee Dimock connected the film's central theme of togetherness to its recurring image of missing shoes, stating the "utopian dream" driving the characters is <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">that puny humans like us could be 'together'—not only in the specific neural melding that must take place between the two Jaeger co-pilots but also, more generally speaking, in a fractal web of resemblance, filling the world with copies of ourselves at varying orders of magnitude and with varying degrees of re-expression, beginning with the shoes on our feet.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-46" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[44]

Development
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In February 2006, it was reported that Guillermo del Toro would direct Travis Beacham's fantasy screenplay, Killing on Carnival Row, but the project never materialized.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-47" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[45]  Beacham conceived Pacific Rim the following year. While walking on the beach near Santa Monica Pier, the screenwriter imagined a giant robot and a giant monster fighting to the death. "They just sort of materialized out of the fog, these vast, godlike things." He later conceived the idea that each robot had two pilots, asking "what happens when one of those people dies?" Deciding this would be "a story about loss, moving on after loss, and dealing with survivor's guilt", Beacham commenced writing the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-48" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[46]  On May 28, 2010, it was reported that Legendary Pictures had purchased Beacham's detailed 25-page film treatment, now titled Pacific Rim.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-49" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[47]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On July 28, 2010, it was reported that del Toro would next direct an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness for Universal Studios, with James Cameron producing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-50" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[48]  When del Toro met with Legendary Pictures to discuss the possibility of collaborating with them on a film, he was intrigued by Beacham's treatment—still a "very small pitch" at this point.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Huffington_Post_51-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[49]  Del Toro struck a deal with Legendary: while directing At the Mountains of Madness, he would produce and co-writePacific Rim; because of the films' conflicting production schedules, he would direct Pacific Rim only if At the Mountains of Madness were cancelled.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AICN-Quint_35-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[33]  Tom Cruise was attached to star in the Lovecraft adaptation.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GDT-Collider_11-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On March 7, 2011, it was reported that Universal would not proceed with At the Mountains of Madness because del Toro was unwilling to compromise on the $150 million budget and R rating.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-52" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[50] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-53" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[51]  The director later reflected, "When it happened, this has never happened to me, but I actually cried that weekend a lot. I don't want to sound like a puny soul, but I really was devastated. I was weeping for the movie."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-HeroComplex_54-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[52]  The project collapsed on a Friday, and del Toro signed to direct Pacific Rim the following Monday.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GDT-Collider_11-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro spent a year working with Beacham on the screenplay, and is credited as co-writer. He introduced ideas he had always wished to see in the genre, such as a kaiju birth and a kaiju attack seen from a child's perspective.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-timeout-QA_44-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[42]  The script also received an uncredited rewrite from Neil Cross, who previously created the Idris Elba-starring drama series Luther and wrote the del Toro-produced horror film Mama.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-55" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[53]  Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were enlisted to perform uncredited rewrites when their spec script Monstropolis caught the filmmaker's attention.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-56" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[54]  Drew Pearce also carried out uncredited work on the script.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-scriptuncredited_57-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[55]

Principal photography
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Filming began on November 14, 2011<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-58" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[56]  and continued in Toronto into April 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-59" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[57]  Del Toro gave an update after the second week on filming finished.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-60" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[58]  The film was referred to as Silent Seas and Still Seas during production.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-61" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[59]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro had never shot a film in less than 115 days, but had only 103 to shoot Pacific Rim. In order to achieve this, del Toro scheduled a splinter unit that he could direct early in the day, before main unit, and on his off-days. The director worked 17 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for much of the schedule. Del Toro took a new approach to directing actors, allowing "looser" movements and improvisation; the director maintained tight control over the production: "Everything, 100% goes through me sooner or later. I do not delegate anything. Some people like it, some people don't, but it has to be done that way."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-62" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[60]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film was shot using Red Epic cameras.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-63" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[61]  At first Guillermo del Toro decided not to shoot or convert the film to 3D, as the effect would not work due to the sheer size of the film's robots and monsters, explaining <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">I didn't want to make the movie 3D because when you have things that big... the thing that happens naturally, you're looking at two buildings lets say at 300 feet [away], if you move there is no parallax. They're so big that, in 3D, you barely notice anything no matter how fast you move... To force the 3D effects for robots and monsters that are supposed to be big you are making their [perspective] miniaturized, making them human scale.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-64" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[62] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">It was later announced that the film would be converted to 3D, with the conversion taking 40 weeks longer than most. Del Toro said: "What can I tell you? I changed my mind. I'm not running for office. I can do a Romney."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-65" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[63]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro cut approximately an hour of material from the film. The unused footage explored the characters and their arcs in greater detail, but the director felt it was necessary to strike a balance, stating: "We cannot pretend this is Ibsen with monsters and giant robots. I cannot pretend I'm doing a profound reflection on mankind." Each character's arc was edited down to its minimal requirements.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beaks1_41-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[39]  The director wanted to keep the film around two hours, particularly for younger viewers. Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón helped with the editing; Iñárritu removed ten minutes of footage, while Cuarón removed "a few minutes" and rearranged several scenes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-66" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[64]  Iñárritu and Cuarón receive a "special thanks" in the film's end credits, as do James Cameron and David Cronenberg.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-67" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[65]

Design
Del Toro drew inspiration fromFrancisco Goya's The Colossus, and hoped to evoke the same "sense of awe" with the film's battles.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Huffington_Post_51-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:9.60000038146973px;">[49] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro envisioned Pacific Rim as an earnest, colorful adventure story, with an "incredibly airy and light feel", in contrast to the "super-brooding, super-dark, cynical summer movie". The director focused on "big, beautiful, sophisticated visuals" and action that would satisfy an adult audience, but has stated his "real hope" is to introduce the kaiju and mecha genres to a generation of children.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-HeroComplex_54-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[52]  While the film draws heavily on these genres, it avoids direct references to previous works. Del Toro intended to create something original but "madly in love" with its influences, instilled with "epic beauty" and "operatic grandeur".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Blastr_68-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[66]  The end credits dedicate the film to Ray Harryhausen and Ishirō Honda, who helped to establish the giant monster genre with films such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Godzilla respectively.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-69" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[67]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film was to honor the kaiju and mecha genres while creating an original stand-alone film, something "conscious of the heritage, but not a pastiche or an homage or a greatest hits of everything". The director made a point of starting from scratch, without emulating or referencing any previous examples of those genres. He cautioned his designers not to turn to films likeGamera, Godzilla, or The War of the Gargantuas for inspiration, stating: "I didn't want to be postmodern, or referential, or just belong to a genre. I really wanted to create something new, something madly in love with those things. I tried to bring epic beauty to it, and drama and operatic grandeur."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Blastr_68-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[66] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-70" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[68]  Rather than popular culture, he drew inspiration from works of art such asFrancisco Goya's The Colossus and George Bellows's boxing paintings.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Huffington_Post_51-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[49] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Huffington_Post_2_71-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[69]  The film's designers include Wayne Barlowe,Oscar Chichoni, monster sculptors David Meng and Simon Lee, and Hellboy II and The Hobbit designer Francisco Ruiz Velasco.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Huffington_Post_51-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[49]  Del Toro has acknowledged that some designs created for his cancelled At the Mountains of Madness adaptation may have been used in Pacific Rim.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-timeout-QA_44-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[42]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Approximately one hundred Kaijus and one hundred Jaegers were designed, but only a fraction of these appear in the film; every week the filmmakers would "do anAmerican Idol" and vote for the best.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Sacks_3-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[3]  In designing Kaijus, the film's artists frequently drew inspiration from nature rather than other works. The director commented: "Kaijus are essentially outlandish in a way, but on the other hand they come sort of in families: you've got the reptilian kaiju, the insect kaiju, the sort of crustacean kaiju... So to take an outlandish design and then render it with an attention to real animal anatomy and detail is interesting."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-aintitcool50956_4-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[4]  Del Toro avoided making the Kaijus too similar to any Earth creatures, instead opting to make them otherworldly and alien.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-io9-Barlowe_72-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[70]  Del Toro called the film's Kaijus "weapons", stating that they are "the cleaning crew, the cats sent into the warehouse to clean out the mice." Certain design elements are shared by all the Kaijus; this is intended to suggest that they are connected and were designed for a similar purpose.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AICN-Quint_35-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[33]  Each Kaiju was given a vaguely humanoid silhouette to echo the man-in-suit aesthetic of early Japanese kaiju films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Unbelievable_5-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5] While del Toro's other films feature ancient or damaged monsters, the Kaijus lack scars or any evidence of prior culture, indicating that they are engineered creations rather than the result of an evolutionary system.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-io9-Barlowe_72-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[70]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Knifehead, the first Kaiju to appear in the film, is a tribute to the plodding kaiju of 1960s Japanese films, and is intended to look almost like a man in a rubber suit; its head was inspired by that of a goblin shark.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beaks1_41-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[39]  Leatherback, the bouncer-like Kaiju which spews electro-magnetic charges, is a favorite of del Toro, who conceived it as a "brawler with this sort of beer belly"; the lumbering movements of gorillas were used as a reference.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USAToday_73-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[71]  The Kaiju Otachi homages the dragons of Chinese mythology. The director called it a "Swiss army knife of a Kaiju"; with almost 20 minutes of screen time, it was given numerous features so the audience would not tire of it. The creature moves like a Komodo dragon in water, sports multiple jaws and an acid-filled neck sack, and unfurls wings when necessary.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Sacks_3-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[3]  It is also more intelligent than the other Kaijus, employing eagle-inspired strategies against the Jaegers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USAToday_73-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[71]  Onibaba, the Kaiju that orphans Mako Mori, resembles a fusion of a Japanese temple and a crustacean.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USAToday_73-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[71]  Slattern, the largest Kaiju, is distinguished by its extremely long neck and "half-horn, half-crown" head, which del Toro considered both demonic and majestic.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USAToday_73-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[71]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Gipsy Danger, the American Jaeger, was based on the shape of New York City's Art Deco buildings, such as the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, but infused with John Wayne's gunslinger gait and hip movements. Cherno Alpha, the Russian Jaeger, was based on the shape and paint patterns of a T-series Russian tank, combined with a giant containment silo to give the appearance of a walking nuclear power plant with a cooling tower on its head.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Sacks_3-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[3]  Crimson Typhoon, the three-armed Chinese Jaeger, is piloted by triplets and resembles a "medieval little warrior"; its texture evokes Chinese lacquered wood with golden edges.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USAToday_73-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[71]  Striker Eureka, the Australian Jaeger, is likened by del Toro to a Land Rover; the most elegant and masculine Jaeger, it has a jutting chest, a camouflage paint scheme recalling the Australian outback, and the bravado of its pilots.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-USAToday_73-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[71]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film's costumes were designed by Shane Mahan and Kate Hawley, who spent several months on the costumes of the Jaeger pilots. The Russian pilot suits are old-fashioned and echo cosmonaut space suits.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Huffington_Post_2_71-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[69]

Visual effects
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Industrial Light & Magic was chosen to create the visual effects for Pacific Rim. Del Toro hired Oscar winners John Knoll and Hal T. Hickel, both known for their work on the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Legacy Effects was hired to do the special and practical effects on the film. Shane Mahan, known for creating the armored suits for Iron Man, was hired on as effects supervisor. John Rosengrant was also brought in for his work on Real Steel. Oscar winner Clay Pinney, known for his work on Independence Day and Star Trek, was also brought on board. Hybride Technologies, a division of Ubisoft, and Rodeo FX also contributed to the visual effects.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-74" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[72] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-75" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[73]

Del Toro used classic art such asHokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa as a reference for the film's ocean battles.<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Del Toro conceived the film as an operatic work: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">That was one of the first words I said to the entire team at ILM. I said, 'This movie needs to be theatrical, operatic, romantic.' We used a lot of words not usually associated with high-tech blockbusters ... We went for a very, very, very, very saturated color palette for the battle for Hong Kong. I kept asking John to tap into his inner Mexican and be able to saturate the greens and the purples and the pinks and the oranges. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The classic Japanese woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai was a common motif in the ocean battles; Del Toro recalled, "I would say 'Give me a Hokusai wave' … we use the waves and weather in the movie very operatically."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety_76-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[74]  The director asked that Knoll not necessarily match the lighting from shot to shot: "It's pretty unorthodox to do that, but I think the results are really beautiful and very artistically free and powerful, not something you would associate with a big sci-fi action movie." Del Toro considers the film's digital water its most exciting visual effect: "The water dynamics in this movie are technically beautiful, but also artistically incredibly expressive. We agreed on making the water become almost another character. We would time the water very precisely. I'd say 'Get out of the wave [on this frame].'"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety_76-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[74]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film also features extensive miniature effect shots provided by 32TEN Studios, under the supervision of ILM VFX Producer Susan Greenhow and ILM VFX Supervisors John Knoll and Lindy DeQuattro. Shot using RED Epic cameras on 3D rigs, the scenes produced by 32TEN involved the creation of a ¼ scale office building interior which was destroyed by the fist of a Jaeger robot which was on a separate pneumatically controlled rig, as well as a sequence which depicted several rows of seats in a soccer stadium being blown apart as a Jaeger lands in the stadium, which was created by using ¼-scale seats blown apart by air cannons. Additionally 32TEN provided several practical elements for ILM’s compositing team including dust clouds, breaking glass and water effects.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32TEN_77-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[75]

Video game
Main article: Pacific Rim (video game)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">A single-player fighting video game based on the film was announced by the Australian Classification Board for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Published and developed by Yuke's, Pacific Rim: The Video Game was released along with the film on July 12, 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-78" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[76]  The game received generally negative reviews.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-79" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[77]  Reliance Gamesdeveloped a Pacific Rim tie-in game for smartphone platforms, such as iOS and Android devices;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-80" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[78]  this version also received negative reviews.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-81" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[79]

Music
Main article: Pacific Rim (soundtrack)<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film's score was composed by Ramin Djawadi.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-82" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[80]  Del Toro selected Djawadi based on his works on Prison Break, Iron Man, and Game of Thrones, stating: "His scores have a grandeur, but they have also an incredible sort of human soul." The director also stated that some Russian rap would be featured in the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-83" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[81]  The soundtrack was released on digital download from Amazon on June 18, 2013 and CD on June 25, 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-84" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[82]  The physical version of the soundtrack was released on July 9, 2013 by the WaterTower Music, three days before the theatrical release of the film itself.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FMR_85-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[83]  Guest musicians Tom Morello and Priscilla Ahn also feature as soloists on the score.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FMR_85-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[83]  Two songs appear in the film which are not included on the soundtrack are "Just Like Your Tenderness" by Luo Xiaoxuan, and the ending theme "Drift", performed by Blake Perlman featuring Rza.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-86" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[84]  The OST received mostly positive reviews. The Action Elite rated the album with a perfect five stars,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-87" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[85]  theEmpire gave four,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-88" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[86]  while MSN and Filmtracks also gave the soundtrack four out of five stars.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-89" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[87] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Filmtracks_90-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[88]  On July 27, 2013, the soundtrack was appeared at peak position number 7 on "US Billboard Top Soundtracks."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Billboard_91-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[89]

Marketing and promotion
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On November 28, 2012, the official film website premiered alongside two viral videos—one depicting the initial Kaiju attack as captured by a handheld camera.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-panpacificdefense.com_92-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[90] Blueprints depicting the designs for the Jaeger machines were also released online.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-panpacificdefense.com_92-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[90]  On June 5, 2013, the graphic novel Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero was released. Written by Travis Beacham and featuring cover art by Alex Ross, Tales from Year Zero serves as an introductory prologue to the film, and is set twelve years before its events.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-93" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[91] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-94" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[92]  On June 18, Insight Editions published Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, and Monsters, an art book written by David S. Cohen. The book chronicles the film's production with concept art, photography, the cast and crew's accounts of the shoot, and a foreword by del Toro.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-95" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[93]  On July 2, a viral video was released in which Ron Perlman's character, Hannibal Chau, advertises his fictional Kaiju organ dealership, Kaiju Remedies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-96" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[94]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On the day of the film's release, July 12, 2013, another viral video was released to promote the film. It involved the collaboration of the film studio (including del Toro himself) and the YouTube network Polaris (also known as The Game Station). It featured members of the YouTube network (such as the Game Grumps) as Jaeger pilots fighting kaiju.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-97" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[95]  On July 16, a novelization by Alex Irvine was released.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-98" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[96]  NECA began selling action figures of the film's Kaijus and Jaegers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-99" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[97]

Release
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Pacific Rim was initially expected to reach theaters in July 2012. However, Warner Bros. decided to postpone the film's release date to May 10, 2013. In March 2012, it was announced that the film would be released on July 12, 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-100" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[98]  The film premiered in Mexico City on July 1, 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-101" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[99]

Box office
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Pacific Rim grossed $101.8 million in North America, and has had a favorable international release, grossing $309.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $411,002,906.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mojo_2-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film grossed $3.6 million from Thursday night showings, 23 percent of which came from IMAX showings. It then faced competition from Grown Ups 2 and ultimately fell behind it on opening day, earning $14.6 million.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-102" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[100]  The film reached the #3 spot during the opening weekend with $37.2 million, behind Despicable Me 2 andGrown Ups 2. This is the highest ever opening for a film by del Toro, surpassing Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Around 50 percent of tickets were in 3D, which makes it the second highest 3D share of 2013, behind Gravity.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-103" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[101]  During its second weekend, the film dropped a steep 57% with a gross of $16 million, and during its third weekend, had dropped a further 52% with a gross of $7.7 million.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-104" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[102]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On July 22, 2013, it was reported that the film had reached #1 at the international box office over the weekend.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-105" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[103]  The film had a successful opening in China, grossing $45.2 million, the largest opening in China for a Warner Bros. title, and the sixth-largest Chinese debut of all time for any Hollywood film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-106" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[104]  On August 19, 2013, its gross crossed $100 million in China alone, becoming the sixth-highest grossing American film ever in China.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-107" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[105]  It grossed a total of $114.3 million in the country, making China the largest market for the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-108" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[106]  In Japan, the film landed in the fifth position on opening weekend, with an initial earning of $3 million (behind World War Z ' s gross of $3.4 million).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-109" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[107] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-110" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[108]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In September 2013, Forbes highlighted Pacific Rim as "the rare English-language film in history to cross $400 million while barely crossing $100 million domestic".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-A_9-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]

Critical response
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Pacific Rim received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Metacritic gives a rating of 64 out of 100 based on reviews from 48 critics, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-111" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[109]  The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 72% approval rating with an average rating of 6.7/10 based on 253 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "It may sport more style than substance, but Pacific Rim is a solid modern creature feature bolstered by fantastical imagery and an irresistible sense of fun."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-112" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[110]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The Daily Telegraph '​s Robbie Collin awarded the film five stars out of five, likening the experience of watching it to rediscovering a favorite childhood cartoon. He praised del Toro for investing his own affection for the genre and sense of artistry into the project in such a way that the viewer found themselves immersed in the film rather than watching from afar, noting the director had catered to younger and older audiences alike and expressed surprise that the film could rise above the sum of its parts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-113" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[111]  Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review, describing the film as the sum of the potential every monster film had ever tried to fulfill.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-114" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[112]  Lou Lumenick of The New York Post gave the film four stars out of four, and said it had "no shortage of brains, brawn, eye candy, wit and even some poetry", praising the "clean and coherent" action sequences and the "terrific chemistry" between Hunnam and Kikuchi.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-115" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[113]  Drew McWeeny of HitFix highlighted other aspects of the film, paying particular attention to the production and art design. He also praised the cinematography for "perfectly capturing" the film, and described the score as "ridiculously cool".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-116" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[114]  Rolling Stone '​s Peter Travers called the film "the work of a humanist ready to banish cynicism for compassion", saying that del Toro "drives the action with a heartbeat".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-117" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[115]  Keith Uhlich of Time Out called the film "pure, pleasurable comic-book absurdity", and noted that del Toro had lent the proceedings a "plausible humanity" lacking in most of summer 2013's destruction-heavy blockbusters. He said the Kaijus' civilian victims make a "palpably personal impression", deeming one scene with Mako Mori "as mythically moving as anything in the mecha anime, like Neon Genesis Evangelion, that the director emulates with expert aplomb."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-118" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[116]  The Village Voice '​s Stephanie Zacharek called it "summer entertainment with a pulse", praising its "dumbly brilliant" action and freedom from elitism, but noted the story is predictable and suggested del Toro's time would be better spent on more visionary films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-119" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[117]  Angela Watercutter of Wired called it the "most awesome movie of the summer", a "fist-pumping, awe-inspiring ride", and opined that its focus on spectacle rather than characterization "simply does not matter" in the summer blockbuster context.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wired-Watercutter_40-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[38]  Richard Roeper gave the film a B, commenting that either the Jaegers or Kaijus "can take down any of the Transformers."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-120" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[118]  Leonard Maltin gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, calling it "three-quarters of a really good movie that doesn't know when to quit."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-121" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[119]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The Guardian '​s Andrew Pulver was less enthusiastic, calling the film a mix of "wafer-thin psychodrama" and "plot-generator dialogue".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-122" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[120]  Time '​s Richard Corliss said the action was let down by "inert" drama, describing the film as "45 minutes of awesome encased in 90 minutes of yawnsome."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-123" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[121]  Justin Chang of Variety criticized it as loud and lacking the nuance and subtlety of del Toro's previous films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-124" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[122]  The New Yorker '​s Anthony Lane's verdict read as "It is possible to applaud Pacific Rim for the efficacy of its business model while deploring the tale that has been engendered — long, loud, dark, and very wet. You might as well watch the birth of an elephant."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-125" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[123]  The San Francisco Chronicle '​s Mike LaSalle reacted extremely negatively by stating "If this is the best we can do in terms of movies - if something like this can speak to the soul of audiences - maybe we should just turn over the cameras and the equipment to the alien dinosaurs and see what they come up with... Director Guillermo del Toro, who gave us Pan's Labyrinth not too many years ago, used to be known as an artistic and discerning filmmaker, despite his affection for blockbuster action and grotesqueness. But too often he gets lost in his computer...Why go to the movies to look at somebody else's computer after looking at your own all week?... The actors can't make Pacific Rim any better. They can only relieve some of the pain."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-126" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[124]  Slant Magazine '​s Ed Gonzalez, who said the film lacked poignancy, compared it to a video game: "a stylish but programmatic ride toward an inevitable final boss battle".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-127" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[125]  The Wrap '​s Alonso Duralde criticized the choice to set most battles at night or during the rain, feeling it detracted from the action, and said the comic relief actors—Day, Gorman, and Perlman—stole the film from the less interesting leads.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-128" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[126]  Jordan Hoffman of Film.com identified Hunnam as the weak link in the cast, calling him a "charisma black hole".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-129" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[127]  Giles Hardie of The Sydney Morning Herald was particularly critical of the film, awarding the action sequences "five IQ points out of five" as he described the film as an hour and twenty minutes of fight sequences vaguely connected by ten minutes of story.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-130" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[128]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Director Rian Johnson praised the film,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-131" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[129]  as did Japanese game director Hideo Kojima, who called it the "ultimate otaku film" and stated he "never imagined [he] would be fortunate enough to see a film like this in [his] life".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-132" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[130]  Go Nagai, who pioneered the idea of mecha piloted from an interior cockpit, praised the film's fun and intense action, while game developer Fumito Ueda said its battle scenes surpassed memories of the tokusatsu films he saw as an impressionable child.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-133" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[131]  Science fiction author William Gibson called the film "A ravishing display of intelligent, often wonderfully witty visual design, every frame alive with coherent language, in the service of what is at heart a children's story... A baroque that doesn't curdle, that never fetishizes itself."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-134" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[132]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The inclusion of only one female character of note resulted in Pacific Rim not passing the Bechdel test. This became a topic of discussion in the media and on the Internet. Opinions were divided between those pointing to the film as an example of Hollywood's practice of ostracizing women, and those noting that the film did notsexually objectify Mako Mori and gave her a narrative arc not revolving around a man.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-The_Daily_Dot_18_August_2013_135-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[133] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Metro_18_July_2013_136-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[134]

Home media
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Pacific Rim became available for download on the iTunes Store and Vudu on October 1, 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-137" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[135]  The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the USA on October 15, 2013. It will be released on home video in the UK and other countries on November 25.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-138" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[136]  A collector's edition was also available on the same date.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-139" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[137] To help promote the home media release, Bryan Harley and Roque Rodriguez of Fresno, California, produced a "sweded" version of the film's Gipsy Danger vs. Otachi battle scene, after del Toro was impressed by the duo's "sweded" trailer released on YouTube in March 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-140" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[138]  As of March 2014, Pacific Rim has sold 961,845 DVDs along with 1,427,692 Blu-ray discs for $10,045,530 and $24,634,992 in revenue respectively for a total of $37,079,122.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-141" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[139]

Sequels
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In July 2012, del Toro discussed the possibility of making a Pacific Rim sequel. "We always leave ideas that were in the first draft as you go along. You know, either a set piece that was great but too expensive, an idea that was really bright, but it couldn't quite fit the structure... so we have a little stash of stuff we wanted to do that we didn't get to do. So if that's a possibility, A) I would be very happy to do a sequel, but B) a lot of these ideas, set pieces and all that, actually have in them a really good seed for a sequel."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-142" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[140]  On December 4, Legendary Pictures announced that it had selected Pacific Rim co-writer Travis Beacham to write the sequel, along with del Toro, though there was no comment as to whether del Toro would return to direct the second film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-143" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[141]  At WonderCon 2013, del Toro expressed enthusiasm for a potential crossover between Pacific Rim and Godzilla—another Legendary Pictures kaiju film—but stressed that no such plans were in place.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-144" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[142]  In July 2013, del Toro discussed the sequel, stating: "The main idea that we're bouncing off is the fact that Newt drifted with a Kaiju brain, and all Kaiju brains are connected. We say that. They are like a hive mentality. So, you know, draw your own conclusions."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-145" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[143]  The director has also stated the sequel will feature "Gipsy 2.0 ", as well as a "merging of Kaiju and Jaeger".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-146" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[144]  In October 2013, del Toro revealed that he and Beacham would return to write the sequel, despite the film not yet being greenlit at the time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-147" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[145]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In June 2014, when the sequel was still unconfirmed, del Toro stated that he had secretly been working on the script with Zak Penn for several months and confirmed that Raleigh and Mako would return. Beacham initially developed the storyline with del Toro, but dropped out to work on the TV series Hieroglyph.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-148" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[146]  Later in June 2014, del Toro confirmed that he would direct the sequel, and that it would be released by Universal Pictures, Legendary's new financing and distribution partner, on April 7, 2017.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SequelDate_149-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[147]  A non-episodic animated series connecting both films<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-150" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[148]  and a continuation of the graphic novel were also announced.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SequelDate_149-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[147] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-151" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[149]  On July 9, del Toro announced that the design production for Pacific Rim 2 would start in August 2014, and that scouting for the location would take place in July 2015, with principal photography commencing in November that year.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-152" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[150] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-153" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[151]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In an October the 16th 2014 interview, Guillermo has talked about beginning Pacific Rim 2 production in late 2015, and has mentioned the possibility of a third movie.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-154" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[152]