Kong: Skull Island director making Gundam movie

Gundam is getting a big-budget, live-action, movie adaptation that will stream exclusively on Netflix.

Legendary Entertainment – currently riding high at the global box office thanks to Godzilla vs Kong – will oversee the project, and they haven’t looked far for their director, with Kong: Skull Island helmer Jordan Vogt-Roberts taking the reigns. 

The announcement was made via a Netflix Tweet that reads: “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.”

Sunrise is the animation studio that launched Gundam in Japan in 1979 via the Mobile Suit Gundam series. Since then the property – which revolves around giant robots – has flourished through anime, manga, toys, books and games. 

(Picture: Sunrise)

Sunrise and Legendary announced a partnership back in 2018, with Cale Boyter (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Pokemon Detective Pikachu) producing the proposed movie. Then in 2019 comic book writer Brian K. Vaughn (Runaways, Y: The Last Man) was brought on board to pen the script. But since then it’s been all quiet on the mecha front.

Gundam isn’t the only hot property that Vogt-Roberts currently has in development, as he’s also set to helm the long-gestating movie adaptation of Metal Gear Solid, starring Oscar Isaac. Though the Gundam announcements suggest audiences will have to wait even longer to see Solid Snake on the big screen.

Feature image courtesy of Sunrise.