Okay, so earlier this week, Michael Bay was promoting his upcoming films Pain and Gain and Transformers 4 at CinemaCon, where he told theater owners that there have been quite a few robot "rip-off" movies and that the audience "should know better."

As The Hollywood Reporter speculates, this was likely in reference to films like Real Steel and Battleship, both of which were considered failures at the box office. However, some have interpreted the comment as a possible slam against Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim , which the filmmaker presented at CinemaCon a day later. (It should also be noted that Pac Rim was never directly mentioned by Bay.)

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In response, del Toro said that his film is completely different from Transformers. "We are far, far, far away from that in a very willing fashion," he said. "For good or bad, this is my movie. This is my universe and my creation, and I do not create through comparison."The fights don't occur in well-lit, supercool, car commercial-looking environments," del Toro continued. "They occur in the middle of a raging sea storm or in a savage snowstorm. They happen in a universe that is incredibly saturated."The director also pointed out that robots are nothing new to sci-fi cinema. "To some degree, the source of all artificial life is Frankenstein," he said.Pacific Rim hits theaters on July 12.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.