By all accounts, Pacific Rim deserved to be a much bigger franchise than it ended up being. An action-packed blockbuster about humanity building giant robots for the sole purpose of using them to defend the planet against an invasion of even bigger monsters is the stuff that childhood fantasies are made of, with the concept basically the live-action realization of a dream that millions of kids had smashing their action figures together.
Produced, co-written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, the first installment certainly delivered in terms of scale and spectacle, not to mention the filmmaker’s signature attention to detail and love of painstakingly crafted lore. Reviews were largely enthusiastic, but if it wasn’t for a strong showing in China, then Pacific Rim would have bombed hard, with a global haul of $411 million viewed as a disappointment.
Sequel Uprising fared much worse, despite a charismatic performance from new leading man John Boyega, limping to $290 million worldwide and suffering a tepid critical response. Sadly, it seems as though the franchise is done for good on the big screen, but Netflix have now revealed that animated series Pacific Rim: The Black is coming to the platform next month, and you can check out the teaser above.
The streaming service have been slowly expanding its portfolio of anime based on established properties, with Tomb Raider and Skull Island being announced last week, and Pacific Rim feels like the perfect fit for the genre’s style and tone. The project was first announced in October 2018, but there’s not long left to go until The Black arrives on March 4th, and it should tide fans of giant monster action over until Godzilla vs. Kong lands on the 31st of the same month.