The latest Gundam film has crossed a sales milestone that the franchise hasn't managed to clear since 1988.
Anime News Network reports that Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway, which premiered in Japan on June 11, has now become the second Gundam movie to break the billion yen mark at the Japanese box office. The only other film in the franchise to achieve this level of success was Char's Counterattack, released more than 30 years earlier. Hathaway dropped to fourth place in the box office rankings during its second week in theaters, but the movie has still pulled in 1.02 billion yen (approximately $9 million USD,) in total. For comparison, the previous Gundam movie, Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, earned $6 million USD during its entire theatrical run in 2018.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway tells the story of Hathaway Noa, the pilot of experimental RX-105 Xi Gundam, who rebels against the Earth Federation that his father, the war hero Bright Noa, served under during the Zeonic wars. The movie is the first part of a planned trilogy of films that adapt the novel Hathaway's Flash, which was written by the original Gundam's director, Yoshiyuki Tomino.
Certain screenings of Gundam Hathaway were preceded by a special screening of the first fifteen minutes of Char's Counterattack. Copies of the new HD Blu-ray release of the classic movie were also sold at these screenings. Char's Counterattack was also written and directed by Tomino and is widely regarded as one of the high points of the entire Gundam franchise. It features the final battle between the Universal Century timeline's original protagonist, Amuro Ray, and his rival, Char Aznable.
Netflix previously announced that Gundam Hathaway will be available outside of Japan exclusively on its streaming service on July 1. Several other classic Gundam anime series and movies, including Char's Counterattack, were also added to the platform on June 18.
SOURCE: Anime News Network
