News
Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise Reaches Sales Record of 145.7 Billion Yen in 2024 Fiscal Year
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
In 2022, the franchise hit the 100-billion-yen mark, earning 101.7 billion yen (about US$652.48 million in current conversion) in sales, and it went up to 131.3 billion yen (about US$842.39 million) in 2023.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Kidō Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo), the first new Gundam television anime series in seven years, premiered in Japan in October 2022. The anime's second season aired in April 2023. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan, and also streams an English dub.
The show is the first main Gundam television anime series with a female protagonist. The anime inspired a novel adaptation, which launched in Kadokawa's Gundam Ace magazine in November 2022, and a side story manga titled Kidō Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo Vanadis Heart, which also launched in the magazine in March 2023.
The Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM anime sequel film premiered in Japan on January 26. The film is now the highest-earning film in the Gundam franchise at the Japanese box office, overtaking the 1982 Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space anime film's 2.3 billion yen (US$14.75 million by current conversion). The film has now earned a cumulative total of 4,599,907,360 yen (about US$29.51 million) as of May 5. The film is slated to have its final run in Japanese theaters on May 23.
The film screened in the U.S. and Canada on May 7-8, with an English dub screening in the U.S. on May 8. Bandai Namco Filmworks hosted the U.S. premieres of the film with English subtitles in Los Angeles and New York City on March 31. The Japan Society also held a screening for the English-dubbed version on April 1.
The film project is part of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Project ignited initiative, which was announced in 2021. The initiative commemorates the 20th anniversary of the original Mobile Suit Gundam Seed anime in 2022, and it has several parts. The initiative also includes a new Mobile Suit Gundam Seed game and the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Eclipse side-story manga.
Source: Bandai Namco Holdings via @180223
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
