Comic-Con: Del Toro offers peek at "Pacific Rim"

(AP) SAN DIEGO - Guillermo Del Toro is going really big with his next film.

The creator of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the "Hellboy" movies came to Comic-Con on Saturday to give fans a taste of his science-fiction showdown "Pacific Rim."

Due in theaters July 12, 2013, "Pacific Rim" is a clash of the titans as humans pilot colossal robots to battle gargantuan sea monsters.

Charlie Hunnam plays a washed-up ex-pilot and Rinko Kikuchi is a raw trainee who are teamed up in an antiquated robot to make a last stand against the ocean beasts.

The cast also includes Idris Elba, Charlie Day and Del Toro's "Hellboy" star, Ron Perlman.

Del Toro screened a few minutes that featured epic smackdowns between the 25-story machines and creatures.

The Mexican filmmaker told fans that he wanted to do more than show monsters and robots duking it out, aiming to fill the conflict with emotional, operatic battles.

"A movie like this, it's easy to forget how unique you can make it, and I didn't want to forget," Del Toro said. "I wanted to make the movie not a war movie but an adventure movie."

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Hunnam, best known for the biker TV show "Sons of Anarchy," said he signed on for "Pacific Rim" without even seeing a script.

"There are probably two filmmakers in the world, Guillermo being one of them, that I would take that leap of faith with," Hunnam said.

Del Toro said that after previewing footage at Comic-Con, he and his colleagues were going into "radio silence" about "Pacific Rim" until the end of the year to keep details under wraps.

"This is for you, totally for you, and those (expletive) who have the James Bond cameras in their glasses, don't use them," Del Toro told the crowd of fans.