Pacific Rim-Where can it go from here?

[Little Woodsman]

Uhhmm....

Spoiler: spoilers

At the end of the movie my first thought was, "Ok, these aliens are intelligent and have the technology to open a portal to Earth. You closed their portal. And killed some of them in the process. What's to stop them opening another one, and coming back looking not just for living space, but for payback as well?"

 

[A BigCup of Tea]

the only thing i really liked about pacific rim was the big ass robots and the big ass monsters kicking the crap out of each other, the rest of the storyline was crap (the love interest really?) i actually almost stopped watching it when that guys brother died and he went missing for 5 years, when he was in the chopper and it was about to land i actually said if his new co-pilot is a woman i'm going to stop watching it, it fooled me when they introduced the girl cause they said she was the generals assistant but i guess i always kinda knew she was his co-pilot

 

[randomrob1968]

some daylight fights would be nice.

Introduce a second set of piltos who are involved in the plot.

Also more backstory of how the Kaiju are piloted by extra-dimensional creatures... seems like they were hinting towards as much with them being manufactured.

Also, multi-Jaeger linkup ala Voltron would be a way to up the ante.

 

[Double A]

They could have a prequel set in

Spoiler

the fucking Cretaceous. Seriously who wouldn't want to see kaiju fighting dinosaurs?

 

[Amgeo]

Three words:

Jaegers

In

SPPAAAAAAAAAAACCCCEEEE

 

[rednose1]

I really don't want a sequel to Pacific Rim. I loved it for what it was, a special effects showcase. No deep plot or intrigue, nothing vying for an Oscar...just an enjoyable, yet easily forgettable film.

 

[Khymerion]

Financial disaster? Sure... it did not make Iron Man 2 but it did alright at hitting it's projected american return and it is taking in a decent amount from the international market. It is just the fact that this is a movie not expressly designed to be american focused only block buster but it also was put in a very odd point in the movies and marketed mediocre. Yes, it is not so over the top revolutionary nor ultra-safe by the numbers. It is a giant monster movie and if you start to complain about the bad acting or the story or what ever... go re-watch what monster movies that came before. It is actually a good bit above that mess.

That said, I actually would like this to be a one off movie. I don't want need a prequel, there was a comic that filled in all that information. A sequel is not needed, it will be retreading the established area of aliens sending monsters through a portal but back at the cat 4 or 5 invasion level or we will be at Robot Jocks/Gundam/Battletech style giant robot fights. That doesn't sound that good actually.

 

[Morsomk_v1legacy]

I can tell you what they could do, FUCKING! MIÐGARÐSORMUR KAIJU!(World Serpent Kaiju). So yeah, just like make a Kaiju that is like the Midgards worm from Nord Mythology(his name is Jörmugandr k?) that is really fucking huge and acts sort of like a spawn for all the kaijus. Thus they are forced into making bigger Jaegers that will be called "Mark 10: God of War class" FAN FICTION HOOOOO!

Just do the trope that every other giant mech anime does, just make the robots bigger and bigger.

 

[Teh Jammah]

Well, there's the obvious prequel options that have been mentioned - it would after all be nice to see the Cherno Alpha or Crimson Dynamo crews be the badasses we were informed they were during their intro scenes, rather than being instantly Worfed.

Or there's the mentioned second invasion attempt - after the Kaiju makers put their base/breeding factory back together.

Or there's the counter-invasion - where the humans put together more Jagers, reverse engineer a version of the warp tunnel and dish out some jingoistic retribution to those world conquering sobs.

 

[Strain42]

They did a movie, which was good, and ended in a good place.

They did a comic book which I haven't read yet, but I've been told does basically act as the prequel and is a good companion piece to the film.

I know there is talk about Pacific Rim and the new Godzilla possibly having some sort of collaboration.

...really, I don't think they need much else. I like Pacific Rim for what it is, and I'm a huge Kaiju fan, but I don't think it really needs to become this big franchise.

Let it be what it is.

 

[Kristian Fischer]

I hope there are no sequels. Pacific Rim (a good, but not OMGAWSUMLOL) movie, doesn't need a sequel.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Prequel would be perfect. Show us prior 20 years of Kaiju wars, show us the time when Jaegers pilots were considered "New Rock Stars", show us Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon kicking some major ass!!!

^^ This.

Because:
1) It would be most excellent
2) It is the only logical direction for another PR movie to go in(the only other option would be showing us the Precursor's battle with their universe's Earth or something like that).

 

[Mister K]

Well, I don't think that there should actually be a siquel. What is it going to be about? Nations, with common enemy defeated, are now fighting against each other in World War number X? I don't think so.

Although, as others pointed out, an animated series (or a series of graphic novels) that serve as a prequel and tell us about other Jaegers and their pilots would be nice. Hell, I wouldn't mind watching/reading something about Cherno Alpha's and/or Crimson Typhoon's earlier days.

 

[Anachronism]

Considering this movie was a financial disaster I don't think you're going to want to see any sequels because they would get an inferior budget. So you'd most like end up with cardboard cutouts for Jaegers and blocks of wood with mean faces painted on them for Kaiju. I just hope they're still willing to give Del Toro decent budgets to make anything after this. Although it might do him some good to restrain him a bit as his recent movies have all been incredibly detailed worlds with lots of eye candy, but mediocre stories and characters.

I know people around here loved the movie, but it just wasn't that popular. It barely made back what it cost to make and it needed to make 2 times that to really be considered anything but a flop. I'd much rather not see a sequel with an inferior budget. Besides what made Rim exciting to the people that cared was that it wasn't a sequel or an adaptation of something, another movie would take away even that little bit of good it added.

Personally, I don't think the movie was a big enough improvement on Transformers to really warrant the praise. It was a dumb popcorn movie, but being slightly less annoying than a Bayformers movie isn't really something to get excited for or demand more of.

Now, I don't love the movie the way some people seem to - the characters were dull, and it kind of went limp any time Jaegers weren't fighting Kaiju - but I think you're being overly harsh here. Admittedly it hasn't done particularly well at the box office, but it's been performing solidly in the non-US markets, and I certainly don't think it's done badly enough to warrant being called a disaster.

Also, while I don't for a second deny its problems, I think "slightly less annoying than Bayformers" is going too far. The mechs and monsters all have good, clean designs, even if the Kaiju do end up being a bit homogeneous; and the action is well-shot and consistently entertaining, which is more than I can say for the average Michael Bay fight scene. More importantly though, there seems to be a genuine love for the material here, some base, primal bit of del Toro that just likes seeing giant robots punch giant monsters in the face. It may not have produced a great film (though it's definitely a good one), but it's still preferable by far to the apathy Bay seems to have towards the Transformers.

Prequel would be perfect. Show us prior 20 years of Kaiju wars, show us the time when Jaegers pilots were considered "New Rock Stars", show us Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon kicking some major ass!!!

That would be really good to see. One of my big problems with the film was how much they built up Cherno Alpha and especially Crimson Typhoon, only to have them both be destroyed five minutes into their first on-screen battle.

 

[Jodah]

Rogue human group does Kaiju research and makes their own monsters in an attempt to take over the world. Maybe someone taking over Hannibal Chow's group or even the two scientists (I cannot recall their names) go crazy from their drifting with the Kaiju.

 

[elvor0]

the only thing i really liked about pacific rim was the big ass robots and the big ass monsters kicking the crap out of each other, the rest of the storyline was crap (the love interest really?) i actually almost stopped watching it when that guys brother died and he went missing for 5 years, when he was in the chopper and it was about to land i actually said if his new co-pilot is a woman i'm going to stop watching it, it fooled me when they introduced the girl cause they said she was the generals assistant but i guess i always kinda knew she was his co-pilot

1. It was sort of shown in the trailers that Mako would be in with Raleigh, and she's a personification of the Cute Action Girl trope, I don't think the movie was trying to lead you anywhere else other than she was going to end up being in the Jaeger.

2. Yeah the story wasn't exactly groundbreaking but I don't think the story was the point, although I did enjoy the scientists story. The point was spectacle and visual "story-telling" which it succeeded at fantastically. Not only did we get great mechs, the fight scenes were well choreographed and the Kaiju/Jagers were all easily distinguishable and designed extremely well. Del Toro gets less is more, unlike Bays messy transformers fighting in horrifically directed messier camera work.

I mean look at all the characters, they're all total stereo types, and behave almost exactly as you'd them expect to within their given tropes. The story was merely a vehicle for the action. It's literally a live action cartoon. It was a homage to the old Japanese monster movies, which never had great stories either, I went to see Mechs punch the shit out of Monsters and it delivered on that front perfectly, though I do feel other Jagers could've gotten more screen time.

It was a movie appealing to nostalgia and the desire to feel like a kid again, which to me it did, I was behaving and blurting out stuff like a kid in a superhero movie when I watched it, and I damn loved it.

 

[The Funslinger]

Eh. I'm firmly in the "if it's not designed with sequel potential in mind, don't give it one" camp.

 

[ItouKaiji]

Considering this movie was a financial disaster I don't think you're going to want to see any sequels because they would get an inferior budget. So you'd most like end up with cardboard cutouts for Jaegers and blocks of wood with mean faces painted on them for Kaiju. I just hope they're still willing to give Del Toro decent budgets to make anything after this. Although it might do him some good to restrain him a bit as his recent movies have all been incredibly detailed worlds with lots of eye candy, but mediocre stories and characters.

I know people around here loved the movie, but it just wasn't that popular. It barely made back what it cost to make and it needed to make 2 times that to really be considered anything but a flop. I'd much rather not see a sequel with an inferior budget. Besides what made Rim exciting to the people that cared was that it wasn't a sequel or an adaptation of something, another movie would take away even that little bit of good it added.

Personally, I don't think the movie was a big enough improvement on Transformers to really warrant the praise. It was a dumb popcorn movie, but being slightly less annoying than a Bayformers movie isn't really something to get excited for or demand more of.

Now, I don't love the movie the way some people seem to - the characters were dull, and it kind of went limp any time Jaegers weren't fighting Kaiju - but I think you're being overly harsh here. Admittedly it hasn't done particularly well at the box office, but it's been performing solidly in the non-US markets, and I certainly don't think it's done badly enough to warrant being called a disaster.

Also, while I don't for a second deny its problems, I think "slightly less annoying than Bayformers" is going too far. The mechs and monsters all have good, clean designs, even if the Kaiju do end up being a bit homogeneous; and the action is well-shot and consistently entertaining, which is more than I can say for the average Michael Bay fight scene. More importantly though, there seems to be a genuine love for the material here, some base, primal bit of del Toro that just likes seeing giant robots punch giant monsters in the face. It may not have produced a great film (though it's definitely a good one), but it's still preferable by far to the apathy Bay seems to have towards the Transformers.

Prequel would be perfect. Show us prior 20 years of Kaiju wars, show us the time when Jaegers pilots were considered "New Rock Stars", show us Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon kicking some major ass!!!

That would be really good to see. One of my big problems with the film was how much they built up Cherno Alpha and especially Crimson Typhoon, only to have them both be destroyed five minutes into their first on-screen battle.

Well, okay, I could amend to say it's a financial disaster from the point of view of the studios and executives that actually pay the money to have the movie made. The bottom line is doing better than expected in the foreign markets isn't going to cut it when the movie needs to make twice it's budget to be considered a success. For the people paying for the movie a loss is a loss and they just aren't going to throw the money behind a sequel, unless it's significantly scaled down to lessen the risk, and if you get rid of the pure spectacle then what's really left? I don't think anyone that enjoyed the movie is going to say the plot and characters could carry a movie.

It's a lot like the situation of AAA video games now. Call of Duty sells six million units so stockholders throw money at projects and games that move millions of units are considered to be disappointments. It's the same with blockbuster movies. Studios are throwing hundreds of millions at these movies and then expecting them to make Avengers money when that's just never going to happen, so even when a movie does better than expected it's not good enough. Can anyone really believe that RIPD cost 180 million to make? And they actually expected to profit from that? Same thing with the Lone Ranger, a stupid amount of money to make and no way it was ever going to make it back. Now, Rim is better than both of those turds, but I think it would have benefited from being given a more modest budget and then when that does well and it's got name recognition they would be more willing to throw money at a flashy sequel with all the bells and whistles. But that would have required a stronger script and more world building and then blowing their wad on just the most impressive set pieces they could afford.

But it is what is is and unfortunately I think Pacific Rim is going to be a one of a kind movie that we won't seeing something like it again any time soon because of inflated expectation for what was always going to be a niche movie. And you're right I was kind of harsh on the movie, but I do tend to be very critical of even the things I like. And I actually did enjoy the movie, I just don't think it was quite as ground breaking as some people find it.