Amin Abbas
DUBAI: Spacetoon Pictures, a company that specializes in publishing and distributing anime and animation movies in the Middle East region, has revealed that it plans on bringing the latest animated movie of the popular Gundam franchise ‘Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM’ to theatres in the GCC region on July 11 in its original Japanese language with English and Arabic subtitles.
“We are excited to team up with Bandai Namco Europe to bring the movie to the fans in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,” said Kamel Weiss, Spacetoon’s Content and Business Development Director. “Spacetoon has a long and cherished history with Gundam, having first introduced the franchise to the region back in 2000. For many millennials, Spacetoon was their gateway to the world of giant robots and epic battles.”
Weiss continued, “We know this film holds a special place in the hearts of many Gundam fans, and we can’t wait to give them a chance to relive that experience on the big screen with this theatrical release. It’s going to be a truly nostalgic experience for our audience.”
“This partnership is another step in the success of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise in the MENA region,” said Aadil Tayouga, Licensing and Business Strategy Director at Bandai Namco Europe. “For more than 20 years, Spacetoon has been a strong force in bringing the franchise to the region and we’re proud to be collaborating with them on bringing the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM movie to GCC cinemas.”
The movie is set in the Cosmic Era(C.E.) 75, where the fighting still continues. There are independence movements and aggression by Blue Cosmos. In order to calm the situation, a global peace monitoring agency called COMPASS is established, with Lacus as its first president. As members of COMPASS, Kira and his comrades intervene into various regional battles. Then a newly established nation called Foundation proposes a joint operation against a Blue Cosmos stronghold.
The C.E. is an era in which there are human beings called Coordinators, born with superior physical and mental abilities thanks to genetic modification, and humans called Naturals who are born naturally. With their respective existence at stake, the ideological clash between Coordinators and Naturals escalated into war using armed force.
The movie was first released in Japan in January and it has become the highest-earning movie in the Gundam franchise at the Japanese box office, overtaking the 1982 Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space anime movie’s 2.3 billion yen .
The movie ranked at #1 at the Japanese box office in its first three days by selling 634,182 tickets for 1,065,983,130 yen. This marked the Gundam franchise’s highest three-day opening in box office earnings.
The move is directed by Mitsuo Fukuda, who also also co-wrote the script along with his late wife Chiaki Morosawa and Liu Goto. Hisashi Hirai (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed) designed the characters.