Written by: Ollie Kaplan
I willed this announcement about the live-action Gundam adaptation into being. Last week, I wouldn’t shut up about the Gundam franchise. This week, we get a major update on the live-action adaptation. You’re welcome, my fellow nerds.
Legendary Entertainment and Netflix, in partnership with Bandai Namco Filmworks, have officially greenlit production on the live-action Gundam movie, and cameras are already rolling in Queensland, Australia.
For over 47 years, Gundam has defined the mech genre. The original Gundam series, created by visionary director Yoshiyuki Tomino, launched on April 7, 1979, and it immediately redefined anime, establishing the “real robot” mecha genre by grounding giant robots within a militaristic, human-scale narrative. What followed is one of the most expansive franchises in history, with the popularity of the series spawning a multimedia empire spanning television, OVAs, films, manga, novels, and video games — as well as an entire industry of model kits known as “Gunpla,” which according to a Reddit post, makes up 90% of Japan’s character plastic-model market today, earning over $5 billion in retail sales as of the year 2000, with Bandai — now the fourth-largest toy manufacturer in the world — crediting Gunpla kits with 20% of its total sales. The cultural footprint is staggering: a 2011 estimate from The Los Angeles Times found that enough Gundam models had been sold in Japan for every man, woman, and child to own ten.
Written and directed by Sweet Tooth’s Jim Mickle, the film stars Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney and Street Fighter’s Noah Centineo as rival Gundam mech pilots on opposing sides of a decades-long war between Earth and its former space colonies. But according to the official press release, this live-action film won’t be a retread of past Gundam entries. Instead, it’s an original adventure promising awe-inspiring battles, intimate human drama, and full-scale cinematic spectacle.
Read the full official description below:
For over 47 years, Gundam has stood as the defining mech franchise: the original giant robot phenomenon that inspired a global multimedia movement. Now, it’s coming to life as an original live-action adventure that follows rival mech pilots fighting on opposing sides of a decades-long war between Earth and its former space colonies. As shifting allegiances and a growing threat set them on a collision course for one another, they’re pulled into a high-stakes race across the stars that could decide the fate of humanity. With awe-inspiring battles, intimate human emotion, and epic cinematic scale, this is Gundam like it’s never been seen before.
Rounding out the cast are Jackson White (Tell Me Lies), Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool & Wolverine), Nonso Anozie (Sweet Tooth), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul), Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton (Under the Bridge), Oleksandr Rudynskyi (The Agency), Ida Brooke (Dune: Part Three), Gemma Chua-Tran (Heartbreak High), and Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus).
Mickle produces alongside partner Linda Moran through their company Nightshade, with Cale Boyter, Ali Mendes, Sydney Sweeney, Noah Centineo, and Enzo Marc also producing. Matthew Jenkins, Makoto Asanuma, and Naohiro Ogata serve as executive producers. Gundam will be released globally on Netflix.
Source: Legendary Entertainment
