Sunrise President & CEO Yasuo Miyakawa revealed that Sunrise will be working in partnership alongside Legendary Entertainment on the first official live-action Gundam movie. Legendary’s Executive Vice President of Production, Cale Boyter, and Bandai Namco President Mitsuaki Taguchi also appeared at the panel to confirm the news with former Bandai Entertainment Director of Marketing and current Legendary Comics’ Senior Vice President of Publishing, Robert Napton moderating the panel. Discover more info after the break.

This co-production from Sunrise and Legendary marks a monumental step forward in mecha-centric cinema as the long-storied franchise has garnered street cred since the first anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam, premiered back in 1979. Gundam has sprouted all sorts of iterations since its conception through manga, anime, video games and more, generating billions in revenue.

Here’s what Miyakawa had to say during the panel:

Sunrise and Legendary will co-develop the live-action feature film of Gundam. This project is not simply about licensing or investments. The focal point is about joint development. The 40th Anniversary of Gundam is coming up. That is why we decided to produce the live-action feature. Legendary has produced many fantastic films. We truly believe that they are the best partners for this project. Sunrise and Legendary will discuss the script and mecha design until we reach full agreement before we continue to take the next step in production.

Boyter followed up by saying:

You look at kind of the efforts, and kind of these companies like Sunrise and Bandai, and how they take care of these properties, and I have such respect for that. And I couldn’t be more happy, obviously, and grateful for the opportunity to work with Miyakawa-san and his team because I think we have a great movie in store. And it’s not just about one movie. It’s creating a world, as you know if you’re fans of the Gundam franchise.

Weighing in on Bandai’s mindset, Taguchi adds:

For all of us here, for all the fans worldfwide, and for us, Bandai Namco, I believe the Gundam series is something extremely special. As I watch the process leading up to the joint development agreement, I have no doubt that this film will turn out to be a huge success. This project will have Bandai Namco’s full supprot. Throughout the years, Gundam evolved through many innovations. All of you Gundam fans can count on this next innovation to blow your mind.

Check out the panel highlights below, courtesy of Gundam.Info:

Here’s the teaser poster, courtesy of Gundam.Info:

Legendary is no stranger to mecha filmmaking as they are the studio behind the blockbuster franchise Pacific Rim, which scored $411 million world wide in box office sales. Its follow up, Pacific Rim Uprising grossed $290 million world wide at the box office five years later.

As Boyter states, Gundam is a vast franchise, in a developed world full of many rich stories. Will this be a connected universe to bridge the multiple iterations of the Gundam franchise together? Will this upcoming film series only focus on one aspect of the Gundam universe? Only time will tell.

There has not been an official release date announced yet for Gundam, but we can expect to see some exciting announcements on the project in the months to come.

Source: Gundam.Info / Sunrise