A new live-action Gundam movie is in the works at Legendary.
A brief teaser for the film was released:
Deadline reported the announcement was made at Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Legendary is the same studio that brought us Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim Uprising. They are no strangers to bringing giant robots to the big screen. They will be teaming up with Japan’s Sunrise Inc. which owns the Gundam franchise.
Mobile Suit Gundam was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino back in 1979. In the original series, the story followed the war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. The Principality are a number of space colonies. Despite being outnumbered Zeon has the tactical advantage with their new mobile suits specifically the RX-78 Gundam.
Since the original 1979 series, there has been over 40 spinoffs, sequels, and specials. It will be interesting to see where the live-action film will draw inspiration from.
The press release does give us some clues:
“The original Gundam series is set in the Universal Century, an era in which humanity’s growing population has led people to emigrate to space colonies. Eventually, the people living in the colonies seek their autonomy, and launch a war of independence against the people living on Earth. Through the tragedies and discord arising from this human conflict, not only the maturation of the main character, but also the intentions of enemies and the surrounding people are sensitively depicted. The battles in the story, in which the characters pilot robots known as mobile suits, are wildly popular.”
It’s possible the film will adapt the initial anime created by Yoshiyuki Tomino. However, this could also just be setting the stage for when the film will take place.
There isn’t much more detail about the new live-action Gundam film as of yet. No word on writers or actors. It’s likely that this project is at the earliest stages of production.
If you can’t wait to see a Gundam on the big screen the RX-78-2 appears in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. It’s even possible the Gundam’s appearance might have pushed this live-action adaptation to the forefront of Legendary’s production schedule.
Are you ready to suit up and fly? I know I’d kill to ride in a Leo. How about you? Tell us in the comments below!