Guillermo del Toro Now Approves Pacific Rim’s 3D Up-Conversion

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. announced that their sci-fi summer blockbuster, Pacific Rim, will get the 3D up-conversion treatment, which means they can now add an extra surcharge to the movie’s ticket price. The director behind Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro, was reported to be unhappy with the studio’s decision to up-convert to 3D, but the Mexican director has apparently had a change of heart and is now embracing the 3D technology.

In the previous interview, del Toro spoke about his initial apprehension with up-converting Pacific Rim to 3D, due arguing that the film was not well suited for 3D because of its giant sea monsters and giant freakin‘ robots. He didn’t want to force a false parallax view with the size of the creatures. Now, however, del Toro is working with Warner Bros. to make the best possible version of Pacific Rim in 3D.

Del Toro demanded some extra budget and time to up-convert Pacific Rim. Instead of starting the up-conversion a few weeks before the film is due, del Toro will start the process 40 weeks out. He cites the up-conversion work on James Cameron’s Titanic, which took 50 weeks to complete, as an example of what he wants to do with Pacific Rim. The director also needs additional funds to secure Industrial Light & Magic’s CG composite work on the picture. Del Toro explains:

What happened was, in the weeks and months following Comic-Con, what I asked from the studio was to agree to four points that I wanted to do. The more the ILM shots arrived, the more I realized that there were only a few shots that would miniaturize. I asked the studio, number one, that we would not hyper-stereo-lize the thing. That we would not force 3D on the beauty shots. That we would keep the giant dimensions. They agreed. Number two, they agreed to something very unusual. Normally a conversion takes a few weeks. I asked to start it immediately so we could take the full 40 weeks to do the conversion. As an example, Titanic took about 50 weeks to convert. The final thing that I asked that they agreed to, which was amazing, was that I asked them to give me an extra budget, which is considerable, to actually have ILM composite the shots that are CG native 3D. We’re not giving elements. ILM is giving the composite in 3D from the get-go. That’s a huge, huge element. Now I’m going to be involved in supervising it. What can I tell you? I changed my mind. I’m not running for office. I can do a Romney.

Pacific Rim will follow a pair of fighter pilots (Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi) in their battle with giant sea monsters over the Pacific Ocean. They fight these monsters in giant robots called Jaegers. They are the Earth’s final chance for survival against these horrific sea monsters’ vicious attacks.

Pacific Rim will open in theaters everywhere on July 12th 2013 in 3D… now with Guillermo del Toro’s supervision and approval.