DH wrote:Del Toro Talks "Pacific Rim" Sequel

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is about to begin the publicity push for his sci-fi action epic "Pacific Rim" which is hitting in July.

Speaking with EW, del Toro says Legendary Entertainment CEO Thomas Hull has already asked him about ideas for a sequel: "On the way to the finished screenplay, there were entire angles and ideas that we chopped off because they were too much."

This includes exploring what's on the other side of the inter-dimensional rift beneath the Pacific Ocean - the rift through which these giant alien monsters are coming. del Toro says:

"They’re a race of blind consumers grabbing planets, consuming them, and moving to the next. The idea [with the sequel] is to explore a little bit of that. I won’t spoil it, but I don’t think we’ll repeat a single beat from the first movie."

del Toro, who already has a busy schedule with numerous projects, adds that a sequel will likely be some time off:

"I don’t think the screenplay will come out so quick. It took us a year and a half to do this script, and it’ll take us at least two years to develop the other script."

Also today comes a new featurette about 'drifting', the process through which two pilots control the giant robots in the film.

Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim" is dominating with 60% of weekend movie presales, online ticket broker Fandango reported Thursday.

That's welcome news for Warner Bros., which is hoping its mega-budget giant robots vs. monsters epic can beat expectations at the box office. It opens Friday nationwide, with late shows Thursday.

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Earlier projections had the $180-million 3D spectacular opening with a dismal $30 million. But some analysts believe that the movie's core demographics -- young boys and Del Toro's rabid followers -- are tricky to track, and that the film will see a surge. It could also get a boost from word of mouth once fans see it. "Pacific Rim" has a 76 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Earlier this summer, rival studio Paramount saw Brad Pitt's "World War Z" defy tracking and projections with an at-the-wire rush that lifted it to a $66 million debut, and "Pacific Rim" is outselling that movie at a comparable point, Fandango said.

Warner Bros.' "The Great Gatsby" also surpassed projections with a late rush and opened at $50 million.

Presales change rapidly and aren't necessarily an accurate gauge of box-office muscle, however. Sales for Sony's "Grown Ups 2" were at 21 percent and Universal's current box office champ "Despicable Me 2" was at 12 percent very early Thursday, and both of those are expected to top $40 million this weekend.