Man is it hard to not get excited about Pacific Rim. From it’s simple “Giant robots versus giant monsters” plot description to much of the footage that has already been released, there’s really nothing that has made me think that director Guillermo Del Toro is not going to deliver on the promise of a crazy, old-school giant monster movie. And the footage screened at WonderCon this past weekend does nothing but reinforce that impression.
This clip gives us some more giant robots, more giant monsters and some voice over from star Charlie Hunnam as to why they are beating the hell out of each other.
Godzilla wasn’t the only kaiju making news yesterday. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Veags, director Guillermo Del Toro was on hand to unveil an alternate cut of the recently released trailer for his upcoming giant robots-fighting-giant monsters flick Pacific Rim. While we don’t see too much more of the giant monsters that are being sent by aliens through a dimensional doorway at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to attack humanity, we do see some more of the giant, human-piloted robots that we created to drive the monsters back.
Check it out –
Pacific Rim stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman and opens on July 12.
Guillermo Del Toro may have already set up his next project once he finishes next summer’s Pacific Rim, but he is not leaving that world’s giant robots and monsters behind. The director has been asked by Warner Brothers to start development on a sequel, even though it will still be seven months before the first box office receipts indicate whether one is warranted.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Del Toro will be working with Pacific Rim’s initial screenwriter Travis Beacham to craft a script for a Part 2.
Of course at this point, it is unclear as to whether Del Toro would return to the director’s chair for the hypothetical sequel, though he would undoubtedly at least hold a producer’s credit. He is definitely set to do his haunted house project Crimson Peak as his next film in early 2014 and has a number of other projects in development. His participation will come down to his schedule, how quickly Warners would like the sequel in theaters and possibly how much the studio might be willing to pay Del Toro to postpone further some of his other projects.
What’s not to love about the premise of Guillermo Del Toro’s next film Pacific Rim? It’s giant mechs fighting giant monsters. I don’t really need to know anything more than that.
Del Toro will be at San Diego Comic Con this to launch the film’s promotion ahead of its premier next summer at this time and as part of that promotion, Warners will be giving out a promotional poster that features our first look at the mechs that will be facing off against the attacking monsters. You can click on the picture for a bigger view in which you can just about make out stars Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba on its shoulder.
Warners has also released a plot synopsis for those of you who need more of a reason than just “Mechs versus monsters” to fire your interest in the film -
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
Will being cast in Pacific Rim propel Charlie Hunnam to stardom?
It’s hard to say. Hunnam’s star has been slowly rising for a while, ever since he first received notice in the original British version of Queer As Folk. Currently the British actor has been busy with the critic-fave FX series Sons Of Anarchy. But he has yet to play a star-making role in a big budget feature film, though director Guillermo Del Toro’s big-budgeted film may be the vehicle for that to happen.
Hunnam is currently in negotiations to join the film’s cast, though details about his character are scant. We do know that Travis Beacham’s script for Pacific Rim involves an alien force using giant monsters as a vanguard to their invasion and the countries of Earth banding together to repel them through the use of human-piloted giant robots. It’s a good bet that Hunnam will be playing one of the robot pilots.
Yes, the film’s story sounds like a plot-line devised by a group often year old boys playing with a chestful of assorted toys. But with Del Toro at the helm, it could shape itself into something with a wider appeal. And it will be nice to see Del Toro finally getting into production on a new project after devoting so much time to first The Hobbit and then to At The Mountains Of Madness, only to see him leave the former over delays caused by MGM’s bankruptcy and to have the latter project fall apart due to a disagreement with Universal over the film’s budget and projected rating.
When we last checked in on director Guillermo Del Toro, he was hared at work on getting his dream project of an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s classic novella At The Mountains Of Madness. James Cameron had helped out in getting the project set up at Universal, Tom Cruise had expressed interest in starring and creature design was well underway. In fact, things have been progressing so nicely that producer Don Murphy told IO9 yesterday that things were looking good that for the movie to begin shooting this summer.
But it turns out that Universal has been having some problems with the possibility of a $150 million budget and an R-rating. Given that At The Mountains Of Madness would have to gross about $500 million at the box office in order to break even, studio brass have been dragging their feet on giving production the go ahead. Instead, it is now being reported that they would rather have Del Toro take the reigns of their Pacific Rim project.
What is Pacific Rim, you ask? Well, not much is known about the project except that it is a monster movie of some kind. Universal is hoping that the potentially PG-13 rated project will have much more box office appeal. Each side has been pressuring the other for an answer as to which project will go forward.
If Del Toro does proceed with Pacific Rim, he could still go back to Mountains afterward. And if Universal ultimately declines Mountains, Del Toro could always take it elsewhere, though there is no guarantee that any other studio would pick it up. Hopefully, someone in all of this is perhaps suggesting that Universal will greenlight Mountains on the condition that Del Toro handles Pacific Rim for them first. While I think that the director would be disappointed in a further delay in getting the film made, but at least he would have concrete assurances, such as they are in Hollywood, that he will finally get the film into production.
Of course the irony here is that last year Del Toro dropped out of directing The Hobbit when it looked like MGM’s financial problems were going to prevent the film from getting in to production for some time. In the meantime, those problems resolved themselves and The Hobbit is set to start shooting shortly. Meanwhile, Del Toro still has no idea what his next film will be.
