A few days ago there was news that audience interest was tracking low for Guillermo Del Toro's PACIFIC RIM and the film was in fact tracking lower than GROWN UPS 2 which is out the same day. I know, I know it hurts the brain to think about such things. It reminds me of when PLANET TERROR/DEATH PROOF was released in 2007 on the same weekend as ARE WE DONE YET? with Ice Cube and that film opened to higher numbers than the Rodriguez/Tarantino collaboration.
Early tracking for GROWN UPS 2 has the film grossing around $40 million its opening weekend and even if PACIFIC RIM comes close to matching that the same weekend it's not very good news for a film with a budget close to $200 million. Guillermo Del Toro doesn't seem too concerned about the poor tracking but he still appears to be rallying his fans to support the film. THR has learned that the director was on the fan site Deltorosfilms.com and in a forum he told his supporters not to worry about the negative press.
We just need to keep working. Our numbers are going up. Not in a minor way. Significant. We are on the right track.
Del Toro also brought up GROWN UPS 2 and admitted that sequels have an edge when it comes to audience awareness but also feels his film is doing just fine.
Whatever sequel opens will have, by definition, higher awareness and numbers across the board, but we are moving strongly in the right direction.
One thing to keep in mind is audience tracking has not been that reliable this summer. THE GREAT GATSBY and WORLD WAR Z both outperformed original box office expectations while STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS did not open nearly as high as many people predicted. PACIFIC RIM is out in two weeks so that still gives Del Toro and the marketing team for the film some time to build awareness for the film, which is just what they are doing and Guillermo Del Toro thanked his fans for their support.
We are working on it. We concentrated on the core for a long time — but we are barely started on the campaign. I am seeing the ads now and I am seeing outdoors and we are now supplementing what we did with character or tone. Thank you all for your good faith and love.
So if you love Guillermo Del Toro's work (and want to stick it to Adam Sandler) support PACIFIC RIM and go see it when the film hits theaters on July 12th, 2013.