It all started with the animated television series Mobile Suit Gundam back in 1979, the Yoshiyuki Tomino-created sci-fi franchise subsequently spawning countless movies, shows, games and more. Up next, the Japanese Gundam franchise is getting a live-action movie, with Netflix announcing today that Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) is on board to direct!
Netflix announced via tweet today…
“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.”
Wikipedia explains the franchise, “Most Gundams are large, bipedal, humanoid vehicles controlled from a cockpit by a human pilot. The cockpit is located in the torso, while the head serves as a camera to transmit images back to the cockpit. Most of the series protagonists are Newtypes, genetically advanced humans adapted for space. Newtypes have psychic abilities that enable them to sense each other across space and to utilize special mobile suits.”
As for the original animated series, it had the following synopsis: “In the war between the Earth Federation and Zeon, a young and inexperienced crew find themselves on a new spaceship. Their best hope of making it through the conflict is the Gundam, a giant humanoid robot, and its gifted teenage pilot.”
Not much is known about the Legendary/Netflix movie at this time. Stay tuned.