Apr 13, 2021

Netflix will release the upcoming live-action "Gundam" feature

Netflix will stream the forthcoming live-action feature based on the Japanese franchise Gundam. The film will be produced by Legendary Entertainment, the company behind the Pacific Rim movies and Monsterverse franchise.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Monsterverse installment Kong: Skull Island, will helm and produce the untitled project. Cale Boyter will oversee it on behalf of Legendary with the creative team at Sunrise, the studio behind the anime original. Legendary will distribute the film in China, where Netflix doesn't operate.

Brian K. Vaughan is writing the screenplay and serving as an executive producer. Vaughan is the multi-award-winning writer behind comics including Y: The Last Man, Runaways, and Saga; his tv credits include Lost and Under the Dome.

Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise, the Gundam franchise launched in 1979 with the epochal anime series Mobile Suit Gundam (image at top). It depicts a war of independence waged by human colonies in space against the population on Earth; characters operate humanoid robot weapons called mobile suits. The franchise has spawned dozens of series, films, manga, games, and merchandise.

The new live-action adaptation was first announced in 2018 by Legendary and Sunrise's parent company Bandai Namco. It isn't clear which Gundam titles (if any) the film will be based on: story details are under wraps. A release date has not been announced, either.

Netflix is also due to release a live-action adaptation of another popular Sunrise production, the anime series Cowboy Bebop. The shoot for the live-action series wrapped last month, according to Deadline.