Veteran anime fans should not be surprised by the fact that Pacific Rim was inspired by the likes of Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tetsujin 28-go, and Patlabor.
Since the original hit theaters in 2013, movie tech has evolved rapidly. Between massive virtual sets like "The Volume" and automated, AI-assisted VFX, making a heavy-hitting blockbuster like Pacific Rim today would hit the exact same budget; it just wouldn't suffer from the same technical bottlenecks.
So when asked during a Reddit AMA to promote the upcoming re-release of Pan's Labyrinth about any interest in making more Pacific Rim, director Guillermo del Toro's answer shouldn't come as a shock.
"I would love to go back," wrote del Toro. He continued, "A kaiju-mecha intersection is my sweet spot. That’s why I agreed to do Pacific Rim based on the outline by Travis Beacham. The only thing I immediately said is that it should be two pilots for the robots, so that the story is about two people that need to learn to trust each other."
"Oh my god, I tried so many new things in the way we shot the kaiju, that now I see in other kaiju movies, like the night and the rain, the neon lights. It was such a joy. To me, it's one of my favorite movies I ever shot. I adore it."
He went on to add, "I remember when we were starting, I coined two terms. GothTech, meaning Gothic and tech combined. The other one was “Smart-Stupid,” meaning the premise makes no sense but we have to treat it with the utmost seriousness. Because, of course, there are a hundred ways you would go about killing a monster that size before you say, Why don't we build a giant robot? But I said we should seriously render this really silly idea."
"There are two things that I love about kaiju movies. There's an ornamental, abstract beauty to some kaijus. Some kaijus are based on a natural creature—a lobster, a reptile, a shark—but others are based on architectural, beautiful, ornamental designs that are almost like pieces of pop art. Take a character like Guiron, which is based on a knife. I wanted to bring all that into the movie. Some of the kaijus are very close to an animal—there’s one that looks like a gorilla—but there's another one that is completely crazy and has a knife on its head, but it's made of bone. There's love and affinity."
Director Steven S. DeKnight took over directing duties for the 2018 sequel, with del Toro remaining on board as a producer. Del Toro opted to make The Shape of Water next, a production that didn't align with the studio's preferred shooting schedule and location for Pacific Rim 2.
Due to box office performance,the chances of a third Pacific Rim movie releasing in theaters are very low, but the franchise itself is actively continuing through other formats.
Currently, Amazon Prime Video is developing a prequel TV series with Eric Heisserer (Arrival).
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.