PACRIM invades WonderCon 2013 in Anaheim, California

GdT will be on hand to discuss all things PACRIM at a presentation at this year’s WonderCon  at The Anaheim Convention Center.

The Warner Bros Legendary Pictures panel is set to take place on Saturday in the Arena at 11:30am

Prior to the panel at 10:30am,250 wristbands will be given out at booth 176 for the opportunity to attend an exclusive signing with GdT following the panel in room 213 D

DTF will be there on hand to give you an exclusive look at the day’s festivities.

images property of  Warner Bros./Legendary and published in CINE PREMIERE

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures present

Guillermo del Toro’s  PACIFIC RIM at this year’s WonderCon

The panel will take place on Saturday March 31st at 11:30am in the convention hall’s ARENA.

We are told that there will be an EXCLUSIVE WonderCon ONLY  new trailer along with other surprises.

Here are first look at three Jeager toys, puzzle,and heroclix  from NECA. The toys are making their debut at this weekend’s TOY FAIR 2013

Legendary Pictures also made an official statement regarding all of the licensing attached to PACIFIC RIM

Burbank, CA – February 8, 2013 – Legendary Entertainment announced today wide-reaching licensing partnerships tied to one of the biggest motion picture events of the summer, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures PACIFIC RIM, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Legendary has secured a strong list of major licensees in all key categories in advance of Toy Fair, February 10-13 in New York. Legendary has also released exclusive images of the toys available now on Facebook.

This broad-range merchandising program includes best-in-class consumer products brands and covers major manufactured goods categories spanning from apparel to board games to Halloween costumes.

“As anticipation mounts for the release of PACIFIC RIM, Legendary Entertainment is committed to collaborating with a world-class lineup of licensing partners that will serve as the foundation for a strong merchandising program,” said Joel Chiodi, Legendary’s EVP of Theatrical Marketing. “The responses from licensees and retailers have been phenomenal as they embrace the unique opportunity that this property presents.”

Legendary’s top-shelf list of leading licensees includes marquee publishing brands, such as the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA), which will supply PACIFIC RIM-branded collectible action figures, model kits, prop replicas, posters, puzzles, board games and apparel worldwide. In the video game category, Legendary has carved an agreement with Jump Games to supply mobile and tablet games globally, as well as with Yukes Company for downloadable console and PC games worldwide. Cryptozoic Entertainment will oversee trading cards and trading-card accessories on a worldwide basis. Titan Books will handle worldwide novel adaptations; Legendary Comics will oversee the worldwide distribution of licensed Graphic Novel adaptations; Insight Editions will be responsible for the global distribution of the “Art Of” book; and Brown Trout Publishers will handle calendars in the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia. Rubies Costumes will manufacture PACIFIC RIM Halloween masks, costumes, animatronics and Halloween décor for the global market and Sideshow Collectibles will supply higher-end museum-quality replicas and statues from the film worldwide.

It was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.

On 12/12/12, the trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s epic monster movie, PACIFIC RIM was released online.  If you watch online, I hope you can hook your laptop up to your big screen: it is the only way you can do justice to the massive kaiju and Jaeger’s that make up the two minute preview.

This morning (12/13), “Pacific Rim” is trending on Twitter, and the reaction on the social media sight has been incredibly enthusiastic.  Here are a few of the latest posts as of this writing:

@skymovies: Director Guillermo del Toro’s PACIFIC RIM gets its first trailer.  It’s big robots vs bigger monsters.  Looks awesome.

@Paul_Dini: Sweet mango chutney! Trailer for Pacific Rim has just devoured my brain

@Annaleen: My mouth actually dropped open as I watched the Pacific Rim trailer. Giant monsters fill me with visceral joy.

And my favorite:

@kumailn:  I just became pregnant and the father is the PACIFIC RIM trailer

Of particular note is the number of fans on Twitter that immediately recognized the voice of GlaDOS in the trailer (actress Ellen McLain), lending more street cred to trailer’s premiere.

So, without further ado – here is the trailer, and couple of one-sheet posters making the rounds.  Enjoy!

Deadline reports that GDT’s next project will be CRIMSON PEAK – a haunted house project that he originally co-wrote with long-time collaborator Matthew Robbins.

The film would be produced by Legendary Pictures (continuing a strong relationship between Guillermo and that studio).

CRIMSON PEAK was originally bought by Universal, which will co-finance.

Lucinda Coxon (The Crimson Petal and the White) will assist in a re-write, and the goal is for production to begin in 2014.  This would allow Guillermo to work on the F/X pilot for The Strain after PACRIM’s summer release.

Del Toro tells Deadline that CRIMSON PEAK is “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules.”

The film originally gained traction after PAN’S LABYRINTH.  Here is a an interesting quote from the Deadline article:

The project originally sold quietly as a spec script to Universal, where del Toro had his deal. “It was the first one I wrote after Pan’s Labyrinth, and I sold it to Donna Langley at Universal,” he said. “She loved it, I was going to direct it, and then Hellboy II happened, and then I was off to New Zealand for The Hobbit. Donna suggested I move aside and produce it. It went out to directors, but I didn’t quite like anyone for it. Finally I went through the experience of Pacific Rim with Warner Bros and Legendary, and it was the best experience I have ever had making a movie, period. I had a really good working relationship with Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, and they asked what I wanted to do next. I sent them At The Mountains Of Madness, I sent them [The Count Of] Monte Cristo, another project I’ve tried to do for 20 years. I also sent Crimson Peak, but didn’t expect a reaction because it’s not a typical Legendary movie. Much to my surprise, Thomas Tull called 9:30 at night on the day I sent it and said, ‘I don’t know how it ends, but I am on page 45 and I love it.’ Next day, Jon Jashni called and said we think it’s the best project for us, just the right size.” Universal allowed him to move the project, with the caveat the studio can put up money for a stake in the film.

Hard-core GDT and Lovecraft fans will note the mention of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, a project that was very close to being realized at Universal, but stalled.  Legendary, apparently, is showing interest in reviving the project:

“They [Legendary] love it, but we just finished PACIFIC RIM,” [GDT said]. “They want to let that film happen and then my hope is, down the line we can do it.”

Finally, some news! The PACRIM marketing campaign is underway, with a number of “leaked” images hitting the internet.  And how about those Jaegers, people? Kick ass, right?

In case you missed it – here is the collection of “leaked” footage and images.

Pan Pacific Defense Corp
http://www.panpacificdefense.com/
This page has links to all the items below, plus a countdown to December 12th.  Write that date down – you can bet that is when the Teaser Trailer gets released!

Jaeger Blue Prints

Coyote Tango (JP)

Cherno Alpha (RU)

Gipsy Danger (US)

Stryker Eureka

Kaiju Alert System

San Francisco Kaiju Attack News Footage

Leaked Memo

With PACIFIC RIM receiving plenty of positive buzz across the webby webs, it is only natural that speculation begins regarding Guillermo’s next project.

The latest rumor involves GDT directing a “Justice League Dark” called HEAVEN SENT, featuring DC Comics’ horror and magic characters – something that would be right up Guillermo’s alley.

The super team would consist of Deadman, The Spectre, Swamp Thing, Constantine Hellblazer, Phantom Stranger, Zatanna, Zatara, and Sargon.  Initially, reports indicated Guillermo denied interest, but he set the record straight on our forums, saying that he would “love” to direct this film if the opportunity was there.

Still, do not discount Guillermo directing a more personal, smaller film right after PACIFIC RIM…..

Rise of the Guardians

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS had a disappointing reception at the box office on one of the biggest Thanksgiving weekends ever for the film industry.  It earned $32 million over the holiday weekend.  With a pricetag of around $145 million, this could be one of the worst performing films in Dreamworks history.

Still, Guillermo is keeping a positive outlook, and hopes that it could pick up steam over the holiday season by solid word of mouth, and stands by the quality of the film:

Box office was disappointing but exit polls and Cinemascore proved that audiences gave us a straight “A” and through the testing process we were the highest tested film in DWA history. Obviously we need to change our ad strategy but Holiday movies tend to hold through the season.

I love our movie!

inSane Returns?

Guillermo’s horror video game project, dropped by struggling THQ back in August, is apparently rising again at another developer.  GDT told IGN:

We were going to go to a lot of developers after THQ, but it seems like we’re going to be developing it after the first meeting we had. I can’t disclose where it was, but we went to a great developer on the first meeting and it seems that they’re picking it up because they love the package.

No Jaeger Sneak Peak…yet

Also, speculation was rampant that Guillermo’s production studio, Mirada, leaked a sneak peak of a Jaeger in a promotional video.  Sorry, fans – that was not a Jaeger, but check out this comment that GDT posted on our forums:

Days away from the first steps on PR!!

G

Guillermo promised the first PAC RIM footage is coming in mid-December.  Fingers crossed that we get to see a teaser in theaters soon.