John Boyega brings new 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' trailer to New York Comic Con

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The first full-length trailer for the sci-fi movie Pacific Rim: Uprising debuted at New York Comic Con Friday.

Directed by Steven S. DeKnight and starring John Boyega, Burn Gorman, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian and Cailee Spaeny, the movie is set for release on March 23.

The sequel takes place 10 years after filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's 2013 adventure about pilots controlling giant robots named Yaegers to defend Earth from giant monsters called Kaiju.

DeKnight, Boyega, Eastwood, Gorman and Spaeny were on hand for the unveiling of the new trailer in front of thousands of fans and members of the press at the Theater of Madison Square Garden.

"The globe-spanning conflict between otherworldly monsters of mass destruction and the human-piloted super-machines built to vanquish them was only a prelude to the all-out assault on humanity in Pacific Rim Uprising," explained a message accompanying the 2 1/2-minute preview, which was viewed nearly 500,000 times since it was posted on YouTube Friday afternoon.

Boyega plays Jake Pentecost, who is described as "a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity's victory against the monstrous Kaiju."

"Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld," the synopsis continued. "But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through our cities and bring the world to its knees, he is given one last chance to live up to his father's legacy by his estranged sister, Mako Mori -- who is leading a brave new generation of pilots that have grown up in the shadow of war."