Guillermo Del Toro Says WB Gave Him Extra Budget To Do 3D Conversion Right For ‘Pacific Rim’

After talking a big game at Comic-Con earlier this year, telling Collider that despite shooting digitally — the film was shot on the RED EPIC — the film was not intended for 3D post-conversion because of the sheer scale of the robots and monster (the stereoscopic process makes objects appear smaller than their 2D counterparts), it was revealed a couple of weeks ago that Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” would, in fact, be converted into 3D. At the time trade reports suggested that the decision was made in spite of del Toro’s wishes, but it appears that the “Pan’s Labyrinth” filmmaker readily agreed to a conversion, with some caveats.

Talking to Shock Till You Drop, del Toro laid out the three guidelines he asked the studio to follow for conversion: 1) “That we would not force 3D on the beauty shots. That we would keep the giant dimensions.” 2) Instead of waiting until the picture was locked and finished, the 3D conversion would be done simultaneously with the regular post-production process. So, a “full 40 weeks” instead of the tighter windows that most post-conversions have. And lastly, 3) “an extra budget, which is considerable, to actually have ILM composite the shots that are CG-native [in] 3D . . . ILM is giving the composite in 3D from the get-go.”

So does del Toro’s explanation convince you that this will be one worth shelling out a few extra bucks for in 3D? Are you are gonna plunk down your robot-smashing dollars for plain ol' 2D? “Pacific Rim” will hit theaters in both formats on July 12, 2013.