In response, humanity builds massive robots called Jaegers. In 2013, massive alien monsters called Kaiju begin emerging from an interdimensional portal called "The Breach" at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and attacking coastal cities.
The film is regarded as an homage to kaiju, mecha, and anime media. It earned a worldwide total of more than $411 million-earning $114 million in China alone, its largest market-becoming Del Toro's most commercially successful film. While it underperformed at the box office in the United States, it was highly successful in other markets, thus labeling the film as a box office success. It was released on July 12, 2013, in 3D and IMAX 3D, receiving generally positive reviews the visual effects, action sequences, and nostalgic style were highly praised. The film was produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Principal photography began on November 14, 2011, in Toronto and lasted through to April 2012. Focusing on the war's later days, the story follows Raleigh Becket, a washed-up Jaeger pilot called out of retirement and teamed with rookie pilot Mako Mori as part of a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kaiju. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers, gigantic humanoid mechas, each controlled by two co-pilots whose minds are joined by a mental link. The film is set in the future, when Earth is at war with the Kaiju, colossal sea monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
The screenplay was written by Travis Beacham and del Toro from a story by Beacham. Pacific Rim is a 2013 American science fiction monster film directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, and Ron Perlman, and the first film in the Pacific Rim franchise.