This summer has seen its fair share of underperforming blockbusters — “After Earth” and “White House Down,” in particular — but with most of them you knew the reason they failed: they were bad films, even by mindless fluff standards. This isn’t the case with Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim,” which opened in third place and brought in a paltry $38.3 million this past weekend. The film, which cost a reported $190 million to make, won’t garner any award season buzz (not that that was ever the intent), but it’s a great example of spectacle done right, and one that you’d expect to excel at the box office.
So why did del Toro’s latest film flop? Is it because the giant robot vs. giant monster flick features uninspired acting, underdeveloped characters, and lack of star power (I love Idris Elba, but he probably shouldn’t be your biggest star)? No. “Pacific Rim” is most definitely a flawed film, but its sense of joy and wonder overcomes this.
It also does what we expect a tent pole film to do really well: wow us. Watching its skyscraper-tall robots (called Jaegers) butt heads with equally mammoth monsters (Kaiju) is at times breath taking. There’s one scene in particular where a clash is briefly taken to space (or at least the edge of Earth’s atmosphere), which actually made me say, “Whoa.” And that’s the point. This film is all about robots and monsters punching, blasting, and slashing each other. If that doesn’t appeal to you, this film is not for you. Based on the fact that the decrepit looking “Grown Ups 2” made more money last weekend, that seems to be the decision that most of the movie-going public came to.
I fondly remember many lazy Sundays spent watching Godzilla films on TV as a kid. And it was giant robot cartoons, like the Gundam franchise, that first drew me to anime. I’ve out grown both somewhat since then, but both genres are still of interest to me and I cannot think of a better modern day realization of the two. The film is a flashy live action anime filled with impressive CGI monsters.
“Pacific Rim” might initially look like the sort of action and explosion-filled film that would do well during the summer, but its appeal actually isn’t broad enough. To me, that makes for a more interesting blockbuster, but an idiosyncratic tent pole is a studio’s worst nightmare. Thanks to foreign markets — which the film is clearly aware of based on nods towards its Japanese, Chinese, and Russian audiences — “Pacific Rim” should end up doing fine in the end, but its domestic haul will be viewed as a mini catastrophe, or at least something to make a studio think twice before handing its next blockbuster over to del Toro. Maybe that’s not a bad thing.
“Pacific Rim”
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Travis Beacham, del Toro
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Ron Perlman
Opening Weekend Gross: $38.3 million