Pacific Rim will be post-converted to 3D, possibly against Guillermo Del Toro’s wishes

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

When a new Guillermo Del Toro film hits theaters, it is time to rejoice. The man has so many projects in various states that having one actually come to fruition is worth celebrating. And, PACIFIC RIM aims to be his biggest movie yet. The enthusiasm Del Toro displayed at Comic Con was phenomenal and he also shared his hesitancy for releasing the movie in 3D.

Del Toro said at Comic Con “I didn’t want to make the movie 3D because when you have things that big, the thing that happens naturally is you’re looking at two buildings at 300 feet. If you move, the buildings don’t go like this (moves his hands closer together), there’s no parallax. They’re so big that you barely notice anything no matter how fast you’re moving, so to force the 3D effect on robots and monsters that are supposed to be that high, you’re making them miniaturized, you’re making them human-scale. I knew that the 3D effect sounded like a great idea, but it was gonna be counter.”

Well, Variety reports today that Warner Bros. will be going ahead with a post-conversion of the film into 3D. No word on whether Del Toro had any involvement with the final decision, but based on his Comic Con statement, I would find it quite hypocritical if he did. If he didn’t, then this will be the final nail in the coffin for upcharging movie-goers.

Do you really need 3D for a plot this awesome? 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.

3D is a big money-maker internationally which is where the studios are making their profits these days. For them, it is a foolish decision to not release the movies in the format, even if the result is lackluster. Thankfully, PACIFIC RIM will be released in both 3D and 2D when it bows on July 12th, 2013.