Legendary Pictures has signed American filmmaker and showrunner Jim Mickle to write and direct the first live-action feature film based on Bandai Namco’s 45-year-old anime mecha IP Mobile Suit Gundam. 

This announcement comes six years after Legendary and Bandai Namco Filmworks first unveiled their co-production plans to adapt Gundam for the big screen. Mickle’s production company Nightshade will join the project, which starts production early in the new year. 

Plot details are still under lock and key, with no clear indication if the partners plan to translate one of Gundam’s 50-plus animated narratives into live action or create an original storyline. Several series in the franchise follow a similar formula—a young teenager is caught in the middle of an ongoing war and must enter the cockpit of a new Gundam to survive and fight back against evil forces. 

The Gundam IP is coming off a strong performance at this year’s box office with Bandai’s latest film in the series, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, grossing more than US$32 million worldwide. This makes it the most successful Gundam movie to date, surpassing 2021’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway (US$18.7 million) and 1988’s Char’s Counterattack (US$7.4 million).