Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 monster-versus-robot blockbuster, remains the director’s highest-grossing film to date, earning $411 million worldwide, despite never claiming the number one spot at the US box office, per bgr.com.
Del Toro, whose credits include Pan’s Labyrinth and 2025’s Frankenstein, made his directorial debut with Cronos in 1992. Pacific Rim, starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba and Ron Perlman, follows soldiers who pilot giant robots known as Jaegers to battle monstrous invaders.
The film opened in the US the same weekend as Grown Ups 2, which drew larger domestic audiences and limited Pacific Rim’s home-market performance. Its global box office haul, however, was strong enough to launch a franchise.
The 2018 sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising, directed by Steven S. DeKnight, underperformed by comparison, taking $291 million worldwide against a $155 million production budget. Netflix followed with an anime spin-off in 2021, which received largely positive reviews but attracted little wider attention.
The franchise is not finished. Legendary is developing a prequel television series set before the events of the original film, while a board game, “Pacific Rim: Breachfall,” is also in production, allowing players to take on the roles of Jaegers and the creators of the monsters they fight.
Del Toro has since moved on to more critically acclaimed work, including The Shape of Water and Pinocchio, though Pacific Rim continues to hold a following among fans hoping for further instalments in the monster-versus-robot genre.