Bandai Namco Filmworks, Legendary Pictures Announce ‘GUNDAM’
Humberto SaabedraIn a press release delivered in the afternoon Japan time, Bandai Namco Filmworks has announced a renewed tie-up with Legendary Pictures to produce a new live-action adaptation of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, simply titled GUNDAM. At this time, the only details confirmed are the director attached to the film in Jim Mickle, best known for the Netflix fantasy drama adaptation of Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth comic book anthology. In addition to the confirmation of a feature film-co-production and co-financing agreement, Bandai Namco has also confirmed the establishment of a new US subsidiary in Bandai Namco Filmworks USA beginning in April of this year, specifically to develop expansion plans for Mobile Suit Gundam in the US as well as participating in the production of the forthcoming feature film. The project was first announced all the way back in 2018 during that year’s Anime Expo.
Bandai Namco describes Mobile Suit Gundam:
Mobile Suit Gundam, which began broadcasting in 1979, established the genre of “real robot anime” that could not be described in terms of simple good and evil, which had been the trend of robot anime up to that point, with realistic depictions of war, detailed scientific examinations, and intricately interwoven human dramas that treated robots as “weapons” called “mobile suits,” and caused a huge boom.
Since then, as a long running series, 25 anime series, 34 movies, 27 OVAs, streaming content, event-exclusive footage, TV specials, etc. have been produced, and over its long history up to the present, it has gained a lot of fans around the world. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam is an internationally renowned franchise with wide range of product and service categories in addition to the content, generating over $900 million annually. This will be its first live-action film.
