Pacific Rim Movie Math Infographic Adds Up All The Cinematic Non-Anime Influences

By Nick Venable | Published 11 years ago

This past weekend, America did a fine job proving that if a movie doesn’t have a number 2 behind its name, it doesn’t deserve to win the weekend. I know not every reader on this website was as gung-ho about Pacific Rim as we were, but I have to assume that no one thought that a weekend of aggravating-ass Minions and an Adam Sandler/Kevin James team-up could possibly be a better time at the theater. But there’s no point in me blaming America for its woes. Maybe the film just didn’t have the right formula for success. And I’d have thought “robots vs. monsters” sounded like heaven to everybody.

Entertainment Weekly went beyond the giant protagonists and antagonists to lay out the cinematic equation that details the film’s narrative and aesthetic lineage through mostly American films and TV shows. That there isn’t a single piece of anime on this list tells me that whoever put it together took the easy road (like I probably would have). But it isn’t like this is a perfect science meant to be taken extremely seriously.

Of course, it starts off with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (which is the only film listed here that we would pair with Pacific Rim) and then adds it to Real Steel, because what other robot-fighting movies are they going to mention? The list probably could have just ended here, but they go on. I’d rather not think about Battleship in the same arena as anything Guillermo del Toro makes, but I’m definitely listening anytime Sons of Anarchy or Fight Club comes up.

Anyway, there’s no reason for me to sit here and list everything that you’ve already seen on the infographic above. The one that really takes the cake (and gets everyone riled up about said cake) is President Whitmore’s speech from Independence Day, and the Armageddon goodbye, to a lesser degree. Ben Affleck should have stopped the apocalypse back then, dammit.

In closing, I have no idea if this formula would actually equal out to Pacific Rim, especially since they use a Sharknado reference. I’m pretty sure The Asylum produced that entire film in the amount of time it took Ron Perlman to put his sunglasses on.

Also, I forgot that Point Break had any women in it. The kiss did involve a woman, right?

I know you guys know Pacific Rim is out now. This is where we all band together to keep its mecha-momentum carried over until next weekend, when a slew of releases will probably dethrone the entire top three.

Need more encouragement? Check out the gorgeous opening and ending credit sequences below.

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