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2nd Gundam Hathaway Film's Trailer Confirms January 30, 2026 Delay
posted on by Egan Loo
Bandai Namco Filmworks presented a new trailer and main visual for Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe (Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senkō no Hathaway - Circe no Majo), the second film of the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senkō no Hathaway) anime project, on Friday. The trailer confirms that the film has been delayed to January 30, 2026 at 365 theaters throughout Japan. (The studio previously said that the film will open in Japan this year, with North American screenings to follow.)
Director Shukou Murase had teased during the first film's 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc release event in December 2021 that the second film may not open before 2024, the year of the next Summer Olympic Games, at least. The film's producer Naohiro Ogata revealed that the next stage of the film series is Australia, but it has been difficult to cover the area because of COVID-19, so the director had been using a flight simulator to fly around the sky there.
The film project will be a trilogy, and the second part had a working title of Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senkō no Hathaway: San of Bright. The film's producer Ogata elaborated that the Japanese katakana characters "San" (サン) can be read as "sun" or "son." (The film's main character Hathaway Noa is the son of the character Bright Noa.) Ogata stated the second part would have some differences from Yoshiyuki Tomino's original novel series.
The first film opened in Japan on June 11, 2021, 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 due to the extended state of emergency declared in Japan.
The first Hathaway film sold 259,074 tickets for 523,943,800 yen (about US$4.77 million) in its first three days at the box office. It ranked at #3 (in terms of tickets sold) in its opening weekend. It eventually became the first Gundam film since 1988's Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack to top the 1 billion yen mark. The film has earned a cumulative total of 2,209,628,200 yen (about US$19.57 million) in the Japanese box office as of October 10, 2021. (The Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- anime film has since surpassed its total.)
Netflix U.S. began exclusively streaming the first film on July 1, 2021.
Update: Bandai Namco Filmworks presented an English-subtitled version of the new trailer, embedded above. The studio also describes the second film's story and offers comments from the cast:
In this latest installment, the film continues to follow Hathaway as he struggles between his unresolved feelings for Gigi and his mission aligned with MAFTY, Kenneth preparing for the suppression of MAFTY, and Gigi herself, whose presence will alter the course of both men's destinies in an intense space opera of drama, combat, and emotional complexity. The film arrives in theaters across Japan this winter and the United States at a date to be confirmed.Kenshō Ono (Hathaway Noa) Comment: “This is all crazy.
Hathaway is a man who questions the world itself — torn by doubts about what justice means and what he is truly fighting for. He suffers in solitude as he struggles with those questions, while Gigi's presence grows ever larger, spiraling out of control. Is it the world that's gone mad, or is it something else?
I hope you look forward to seeing the answer unfold on screen.”
Reina Ueda (Gigi Andalucia) Comment: “Does Gigi truly realize that she holds the power to influence the course of this conflict — or not? There are moments where it almost sounds as if she's toying with the very syllables of “Hathaway Noa,” yet beneath that playfulness lies someone who struggles and thinks deeply.
I hope audiences will be able to feel that sincerity and complexity in her performance.”
Junichi Suwabe (Kenneth Sleg) Comment: “Thank you all for your patience — I've been eagerly waiting for this moment myself. The second chapter of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is finally here! The trailer alone gave me goosebumps with its escalating tension. The story of those swept along by destiny moves forward once again. Please look forward to it!”
Sources: Official Gundam website, Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
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