. The Pacific

The Pacific.

The Pacific is a ten-part television World War II mini-series, produced by HBO, Seven Network Australia and DreamWorks, that premiered on March 14, 2010.

Similar to the 2001 mini-series Band of Brothers, The Pacific focuses on the United States Marine Corps' actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

The Pacific was spearheaded by Bruce McKenna (co-executive producer), one of the main writers on Band of Brothers. Hugh Ambrose, the son of Band of Brothers author Stephen Ambrose, served as a project consultant.

The Pacific is based primarily on two memoirs of U.S. Marines, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugine Sledge and Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie. The series will tell the stories of the two authors and Marine John Basilone, as the war against the Empire of Japan rages. It also draws on Sledge's China Marine and Red Blood, Black Sand, the memoir of Chuck Tatum, a Marine who fought alongside Basilone at Iwo Jima.

The series will feature well-known battles involving the 1st Marine Division, such as Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa, as well as Basilone's involvement in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Hugh Ambrose has authored the official tie-in book to the series, which follows the stories of the three men featured in the series as well as stories of their fellow Marines. It is set to publish in the US and UK in March 2010.

The Pacific was produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman in association with HBO Films, Playtone, DreamWorks, and Seven Network. Seven invested in the project for the right to broadcast it in Australia. Nine Network has previously broadcast the HBO productions of The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. Nine had a broadcast deal with HBO's parent Warner Bros, but then HBO started to distribute its own productions separately. In April 2007, the producers set up a production office in Melbourne and began casting.

Filming of the series in Australia, started Aug. 10, 2007, and finished in late May 2008. The score was written by Hans Zimmer, Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely and was released on March 9th. The series premiered on March 14, 2010, on HBO. Originally the project was estimated at US$ 100 million (AUD$ 120 million) to produce.

The series has a budget of more than US$ 150 million (AUD$ 200 million), with an estimated AUD$134 million of that spent in Australia, and is thought to be the most expensive series ever made in Australia. Herald Sun estimates that it brought 4000 jobs and generated AUD$180 million for the Australian economy.

The first official U.S. trailer for The Pacific aired on HBO prior to the season 2 premiere of True Blood on June 14, 2009. It showed footage of the three main characters, including a conversation between Leckie and Sledge and Basilone's marriage and numerous combat scenes. The trailer concluded with "2010" displayed onscreen - alluding to and confirming the series release date. A new trailer currently is available on the HBO website after which the date "March 2010" is displayed, giving a more specific series release date. On Jan. 14, 2010, Comcast added On Demand content from the series, including a scene from The Pacific, interviews with the producers and character profiles. Another trailer was shown during Super Bowl XLIV, depicting several combat scenes. An extended trailer (3:47) to the miniseries can be viewed on the series' official website.