Live-Action Gundam Is Officially Coming And Raising Tons Of Questions

The coolest mech the world has ever known is finally making its big-screen, live-action debut. Bandai Namco and Legendary Entertainment announced a deal on Wednesday to co-finance the film together, with Sweet Tooth showrunner Jim Mickle set to direct. I’m praying it won’t be as terrible as some of the other live-action anime adaptations we’ve been cursed with.

For anyone living under a White Base-sized rock, Gundam is a sprawling sci-fi military epic that originated in 1979, spanning multiple universes and timelines with one thing in common: soldiers piloting giant robots that fight with big guns and laser swords. The production agreement was signed last month and the movie is tentatively called simply Gundam. Bandai Namco and Legendary didn’t share any information beyond that. We have no idea when the movie will come out, what parts of the mech warfare anime it will adapt, or if there’s even a script yet. The only other detail the two companies confirmed is that it will release in theaters worldwide when it arrives.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about a live-action Gundam project. One was first reported back in 2021 as a Netflix release with Y The Last Man comic series creator Brian K. Vaughn set to to write and produce it. Late last year, however, Deadline reported that the project had moved to Legendary with a new creative at the helm, Mickle. He’s been in charge of the Netflix sci-fi fantasy series Sweet Tooth about a post-pandemic world full of whimsical human mutants. He’s also currently working on an adaptation of the Western fantasy comic series God Country.

The official confirmation that a big-budget Gundam project is in the works will have long-time fans’ heads swirling with questions and skepticism. We’ve seen how poorly this can go before, from 2009’s Dragonball Evolution to 2017’s Ghost in the Shell. Netflix’s live-action remake of Cowboy Bebop didn’t impress many fans either, though the recent One Piece series has found a warmer reception. The closest thing we’ve had to a Gundam movie with real people are Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim movies, so there is at least an existing blueprint to make the formula not suck.

In the meantime, there’s been no shortage of ongoing Gundam anime series and movies. The newest, called Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (that’s actually the name) released in Japan last month and has seemed unexpectedly decent so far.

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