If you're convinced that Hollywood will never make big-budget original films again, you hardly need better evidence than the word so far on this weekend's Pacific Rim, which has been predicted to make barely an eighth of its $175 million budget when it opens in North America this weekend. But if you're excited about Pacific Rim, and think your moviegoing dollars can help change its outcome… you're right. And you might already be helping.
Fandango, the online ticket seller you and I both inevitably wind up visiting ahead of big blockbuster releases, says that Pacific Rim is beating opening weekend competition Grown Ups 2 on its "Fanticipation" meter-- whatever that means. More importantly, it's making up 60% of the site's ticket sales, which means that people are already grabbing up their tickets and planning their weekends around Pacific Rim. And they're drawing a comparison to another summer release that was predicted to failure only to rally at the last moment; Pacific Rim is selling more tickets at this point in its pre-release than World War Z was at the same time. That Brad Pitt vehicle was facing down mountains of bad buzz before it opened, only to surprise everyone with a $66 million opening. That's more than twice what today's projections had for Pacific Rim… but who says miracles can't happen twice?
Despite our mixed-to-negative review, we would have to be monsters-- excuse us, kaiju-- not to be rooting for Pacific Rim to succeed this weekend, helping prove that not every big movie has to be based on a comic book or toy or TV show or board game or whatever else. Guillermo del Toro is one of the most ambitious filmmakers working today, and as he continues to talk about future projects like At The Mountains Of Madness and Crimson Peak, we want him to have all the power he can get to make those visions happen. Plus, anyone who goes to see Grown Ups 2 instead of Pacific Rim is an enemy of all things good about the movies. Buy those Pacific Rim tickets! Get those hopes up! Guillermo del Toro and his army of fighting robots are counting on you.
