Guillermo Del Toro Gets Extra Funding To Post-Convert Pacific Rim

Were you concerned when you heard reports that Warner Bros. wanted Guillermo Del Toro to post-convert his “giant freaking robots” blockbuster Pacific Rim to 3D? We feel your pain, given the problems other films have had with the post-conversion process (including Warner’s own Wrath of the Titans, which remains the benchmark for muddy 3D in this recent age). But Del Toro’s easing his audience’s concerns by explaining that he’s got a firm grasp on the process, and wants Pacific Rim to look as fantastic as possible. Of course.

The movie is in post-production as we speak, and still has July 12, 2013 as its target release date. It will be Del Toro’s first stab at 3D, and he told Shock Til You Drop that he had four points that needed to be addressed before he’d agree to the 3D conversion. Here’s what the director had to say about his post-production process on Rim:

“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.”

Love that. A “Romney.” Very funny. The key fact there is the money, which Del Toro needs to ensure a proper conversion. And hopefully Warner sees the financial potential in a monster movie Del Toro seems very excited about delivering. We’re praying that this post-conversion doesn’t delay the release date, because the footage we managed to see in Comic-Con was eye-popping, and now it sounds like it’s going to be pop off the screen, as well.