Live-Action Gundam Film Lands Director, Will Stream On Netflix
The upcoming live-action Gundam film from Legendary Entertainment and Sunrise has landed a director and the film will also stream on Netflix.
IGN’s Julia Alexander reports that Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts will helm the movie. Vogt-Roberts is also the director of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie.
The movie will also stream on Netflix globally. Legendary will distribute the film in China.
Netflix announced on Twitter, “Grab your Mobile suits! Jordan Vogt-Roberts has been set to direct and produce Legendary’s first-ever live-action feature film version of Sunrise’s GUNDAM for Netflix.”
Roberts also posted to Twitter, “A tweet cannot begin to express how excited I am by this!”
This live-action Gundam film has been in the works for quite some time. Back in 2019, Variety reported that Brian K. Vaughan was writing the screenplay and would serve as an executive producer.
Despite the announcement that Vaughan was penning the script back in 2019, no details about what the movie will actually be about have been revealed.
Mobile Suit Gundam is an anime that was created back in 1979 by Yoshiyuki Yomino. The anime would really take off following the introduction of Gundam action figures. In fact, the original series would be re-edited and released into three separate movies.
That original story would take place in the Universal Century and told the story of the One Year War between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation.
When the show begins The Principality of Zeon has the upper hand due to their advanced Mobile Suits that give them an extreme tactical advantage over the Earth Federation. However, the Earth Federation has secretly been developing their own mobile suit, the legendary RX-78 Gundam.
As Zeon forces attack the Earth Federation base, young Amuro Ray discovers the RX-78 Gundam and becomes its pilot leading Earth Federation forces in beating back Zeon.
Amuro Ray confronts the formidable Zeon Lieutenant Commander Char Aznable throughout the series. However, Char has his own agenda as he seeks to use the war to eliminate Zeon’s ruling Zabi family. The Zabi’s were responsible for his father’s death Zeon Zum Deikun, of which the principality takes its name.
Mobile Suit Gundam reinvented the Japanese mecha genre showing the true costs of war and depicting the mecha suits as weapons of war, rather than stand-ins for superheroes.
In fact, Mobile Suit Gundam showed the engineers and maintenance crew who maintained the giant robots, and highlighted the skills of the pilots.
The franchise also explored the politics of Zeon and the Earth Federation. It would even delve into human evolution and the idea of Newtypes, or individuals who gained heightened mental awareness in order to adapt and survive in space.
The original anime would spawn a number of spin-offs, prequels, and sequels. In fact, there are plenty of Gundam stories that take place outside the original Universal Century timeline.
Some of the more popular include the After Colony timelines, which includes Gundam Wing and New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. Another is the Cosmic Era, which includes Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.
Other popular iterations include the Iron-Blooded Orphans, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, and the Gundam Build Fighters.
In fact, this isn’t the only live-action Gundam project that is in development. Back in February 2020, Sunrise announced they were working on a Gundam live-action series based on the Gundam Build anime series.
The Gundam Build anime franchise first launched in 2013 with Gundam Build Fighters. The series was directed by Kenji Nagasaki and written by Yōsuke Kuroda.
The story follows the success of the Mobile Suit Gundam series, which results in a toy craze for Gundam model kits or Gunpla. With the craze in full swing, special tournaments called Gunpla Battles take place throughout the world to see who is the best Gunpla builder and fighter.
The story followed Sei Iori and Reiji as Sei attempts to become the best Gundam Fighter in his customized Gunpla, the GAT-X105B Build Strike Gundam.
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