Pacific Rim’s Viral Campaign Launches With An Emergency Alert System Test
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Let the countdown begin! As marketing for Guillermo del Toror’s Pacific Rim ramps up, a mysterious website popped up on the Internet yesterday. It features a countdown clock that is due to run 14 days (two weeks) from now, on December 10th. The website is part of the Pacific Rim viral campaign and the countdown clock indicates when the first Pacific Rim trailer will premiere.
The website is called the Pan Pacific Defense Corp, and with only eight months until the release of Pacific Rim, del Toro and his team are starting to build anticipation and awareness of the science fiction/action movie featuring giant robots fighting sea monsters. [The concept really sells itself, doesn’t it? – Ed.]
They have released a “video test” for the Kaiju Emergency Alert System and an urgent letter from Great Britain Air Command calling for five pilot recruits. (“Kaiju” is the Japanese word for “strange beast.”) Some of the info in the letter is blacked out and censored. You can see the video and the letter below.
The viral campaign feels reminiscent of anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Space Battleship Yamato, and Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. Not that surprising, since all of these anime series feature either giant robots, the military, and aerial or aquatic battle sequences. It looks like Guillermo del Toro wears his Japanese influences on his sleeve.
It was expected that the Pacific Rim trailer would premiere sooner than later, especially during the busy holiday movie-going season. Considering both films are distributed by Warner Bros., expect to watch the Pacific Rim trailer on the big screen before screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in a few weeks.
Pacific Rim will hit theaters everywhere on July 12, 2013 in IMAX 3D.
