Pacific Rimis getting the TV show treatment at Prime Video, a new report reveals. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, the first movie in the sci-fi action franchise was released in 2013, depicting a world in which humans pilot large mechs called Jaegers in order to defeat monsters that spawn from the Breach, an interdimensional portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The film was a modest success, leading to the release ofsequelPacific Rim: Uprisingin 2018 and a Netflix anime calledPacific Rim: The Black, which ran for two seasons on Netflix beginning in 2021.
After first reported to be in the works last year,Varietynow reveals thatthePacific RimTV show has found a home at Prime Videofollowing a new deal between Amazon MGM Studios and Legendary Television. Eric Heisserer is still expected to serve as writer and executive producer for the show under his Chronology banner.
The series is expected to be a prequel to the feature films, but plot information beyond that is not known. It’s also unclear when it might release. In addition,Varietynotes that, according to their sources, the possibility still exists for morePacific Rimmovies.
What This Means For The Pacific Rim Franchise
The Show Can Be A Return To Form After Uprising’s Disappointment
Grossing $411 million worldwide on an estimated $190 million, the firstPacific Rimmay be del Toro’s highest-grossing movie, but it wasn’t a monster hit. It did, however, earn generally positive reviews from critics and audiences.Uprising, which was made on an estimated budget of $150 million and was instead directed by Steven S. DeKnight, was a disappointmentcritically and commercially, grossing only $290 million.Pacific Rim: The Blackseason 1 was met with a generally positive reception.
The upcoming live-actionPacific Rimshow, then, has an opportunity to reinvigorate the franchise. Heisserer recently served as the showrunner forNetflix’sShadow and Bone. (2021), which, despite a positive reception, was cancelled after only two seasons. The show, however, struck a chord with audiences, with fan campaign sprouting up to call for its return. Heisserer’s other work is a bit of a mixed bag, ashe wrote the acclaimedArrival(2016) and the successfulBird Box(2018), but also less successful projects likeBloodshot(2020) and 2011’sThe Thingremake.
Our Take On The Pacific Rim TV Show
One Apple TV+ Series Shows A Promising Path Forward For The Project
Del Toro’s direction was seemingly a major reason for the firstPacific Rimmovie’s success, and it could be a challenge for the TV show to recapture this with different creatives at the helm, and likely with more budgetary constraints. A major part of the appeal of the franchise is the premise of giant mechs fighting giant monsters, andthis feels like a premise more naturally suited to the big screen rather than the small screen.
Pacific Rimhas a critics' score of 72% and a Popcornmeter score of 77% onRotten Tomatoes.
That being said,Apple TV+‘sMonarch: Legacy of Monsters(2023) recently proved that kaiju action on the small screen can still be entertaining, especially with that show having put a greater focus on character. As a prequel, thePacific Rimseries could explore the origins of the Breach, with a big emphasis put on suspense, in addition to sci-fi action. It remains to be seen whether the series will manage to recapture the success of that first del ToroPacific Rim, but it is evidently now one step closer to coming to fruition.
