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Gundam Hathaway Producer Teases 2nd Film, But Going Location Scouting in Australia Is Tough Now
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway producer Naohiro Ogata confirmed at a stage greeting commemorating the film's opening last Sunday that the project will have three parts. However, the release frame for the second film has not yet been announced. In addition, he said that "People have been asking when will the next one come out. We're working hard to create it, and I want to release it as soon as possible. We want to go location scouting in Australia, but that's quite difficult... I want to try borrowing the power of the location."
The film earned around 524 million yen in its first three days at the box office. Regarding the box office performance, Ogata said, "We're off to a good start. Every individual counts; if more people watch it, it will stay in theaters longer. I want Hathaway to beat Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space and take the top spot among Gundam films. Beating Encounters in Space with a novel written by Yoshiyuki Tomino would be like returning the favor, I think."
Cinema Today projects that Gundam: Hathaway's strong start could lead it to beating the franchise record.
The film opened in Japan on Friday, June 11, after previously being delayed three times. The movie was originally slated to open in Japan in July 2020, but was delayed due to COVID-19. The film was delayed in April from May 7 to May 21, and was then delayed again last month due to the extended state of emergency declared in Japan. The current state of emergency is scheduled to last until June 20.
The film opened in 215 theaters, a franchise-record high. The film has sold more than 53,000 Blu-ray Discs just in theaters in its first week. Theaters sold 34,222 copies of the limited edition, and 19,452 copies of the standard edition. These in-theater sales figures are already higher than those for 2018's Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin VI - Rise of the Red Comet (6,772) and 2014's Mobile Suit Gundam UC episode 7 Over the Rainbow (19,998).
Netflix U.S. will exclusively stream the film starting on July 1.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan-Web
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