Back in 2013, acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro launched a fresh sci-fi franchise with the release of Pacific Rim. The futuristic world put humans in giant mechs as they faced off against kaijus.

"What I didn't want to do," del Toro explained in David S. Cohen's Pacific Rim Man Machines & Monsters, "was make a movie about the genre." To that end, he expressly forbade the designers to watch ...

Guillermo del Toro never takes the path of least resistance. When he signed on to direct and co-write Pacific Rim—inspired by Japan's giant monster and mecha traditions—he could have easily instructed ...