A 'Pacific Rim' Dark Experience Ride Is Opening In The Trans Studio Cibubur Indonesian Theme Park

Pacific Rim may have first begun as Guillermo del Toro's cinematic love letter to mecha anime, but it seems destined to be turned into some kind of franchise by Legendary. While the feature film sequel Pacific Rim Uprising didn't succeed in this cause, perhaps the franchise's future is in theme parks.

A Pacific Rim theme park ride is being developed as the star attraction at the upcoming Trans Studio Cibubur theme park near Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta. Touted as the "next generation dark ride experience," Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike will pit Jaegers against Kaiju in a ride designed and built by Legacy Entertainmen and Lay-Carnagey Entertainment.

Trans Studio officials unveiled details of the Pacific Rim theme park ride that will be the star attraction of its theme park opening this year. According to InPark Magazine, the ride, titled Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike, is a nearly 20-minute immersive experience that takes place in four distinct parts and "puts guests face to face with three new deadly KAIJUS making their debut within the ride, each with unique powers and abilities." Shatterdome Strike is being touted as "The World's First Immersive Theater Dark Ride," and looks like it will involve both 3D film effects as well as practical effects and animatronics, judging by the concept art above.

The experience first takes riders through a launch ceremony for the Pan Pacific Defense Corp's first MARK VII JAEGER, called the STORM GARUDA. Guests can then pilot the "most advanced mobile weapon in the PPDC's fleet thanks to the imaginative combination of 3D film sequences, practical effects, and state of the art ride vehicle technology." And prepare for a surprise twist midway through the ride portion. The immersive ride experience sounds akin to the Millennium Falcon ride at Disney's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, though with the added benefit of practical effects.

Trans Studio enlisted Legacy Entertainment to design, direct and produce the attraction alongside Lay-Carnagey Entertainment, a media production team, to direct and produce the attraction's media components.

"We are delighted to collaborate with Trans Studio on the world's first 'Pacific Rim' dark ride," says Drew Von Bergen, Manager of Franchise Management at Legendary Entertainment. "Their commitment to both creative ambition and quality of execution has made for an experience that we believe will thrill and delight parkgoers."

"Trans Studio challenged us to create a dark ride experience unlike any other," added Eric Carnagey, the project's Executive Producer at Legacy Entertainment. "The result is one of the most unique theme park experiences in the industry today. No matter what park guests have seen before, they'll be shocked by what we have in store for them at Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike."

There's no news on whether we'll be getting a Pacific Rim theme park ride Stateside, though the announcement of Shatterdome does coincide nicely with the anime series set to debut on Netflix in 2020. Legendary may be testing out the different avenues through which they can franchise Pacific Rim, and if this goes well, a U.S. theme park ride may be well in our future.