Following the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash x [Alexandros] LIVE event, the official website for the anime film has announced it has exceeded 2.2 billion yen at the box office. In the four months since its release on June 11, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash has garnered 1,088,061 attendees and grossed 2,209,628,200 yen at the box office.
Opening to 215 theaters across Japan, the film enjoyed an 190 million yen opening day, marking a 337% increase from Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative’s debut in 2018. The momentum continued the rest of the weekend earning an additional 330,656,900 yen, totaling 523,943,800 yen in box office revenue with 1,537,939 yen per screen and 259,074 attendees, ranking first in the Japanese weekend box office against fierce competition like Hideaki Anno’s Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time and Warner Bros. Pictures’s Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning.
In the film’s second weekend, it earned 1,016,249,400 yen in 10 days from June 11 (Friday) to June 20 (Sunday) with 501,706 tickets sold. This marked the first time in 33 years a Gundam entry has exceeded one billion yen in box office revenue since the 1988 Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack, which earned 1.13 billion yen.
The Hathaway film nears the 1982 Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space as the highest earning in the Gundam franchise, sitting at 2.3 billion yen in box office revenue.
To commemorate the long-hit success of the Hathaway’s Flash film and promote its home video release, a live performance with the film’s theme song artists [Alexandros] was held October 10 at the Gundam Factory Yokohama.
Bandai Namco Arts, the anime/music production and distribution subsidiary of Bandai Namco Group, announced the home video release of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash will be November 26, 2021. The release consists of a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, limited edition Blu-ray, standard edition Blu-ray, and DVD. Anime publisher and retailer RightStuf is importing the limited edition Blu-ray priced at 94.99 USD.
Initially a limited Blu-ray set was released to theaters to coincide with the theatrical release of the film. In the film’s first week, 53,674 copies were sold at 215 theaters, including 34,222 copies for the limited edition and 19,452 copies for the regular edition. In twenty-four days, the Blu-ray had sold 90,683 copies, with 52,989 units for the limited edition and 37,694 for the regular edition.
First in a trilogy of anime films helmed by director Shukou Murase, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash or Hathaway is the official sequel to the 1988 Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack movie. The project was announced in November 2018 to celebrate the Gundam 40th anniversary, adapting the Yoshiyuki Tomino-penned novel series of the same name. The novels were originally released from 1989 to 1990, as a follow-up to Tomino’s Char’s Counterattack: Beltorchika’s Children novel, published by Kadokawa’s Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint.
As of June 2021, producer Naohiro Ogata confirmed the second installment was in production, tentatively titled, Sun of Bright (also read as “Son”). Producer Ogata addressed there would be changes from the novel’s 2nd volume as Yoshiyuki Tomino previously expressed his reservations to Ogata about adapting it. The story is said expand on rival Gundam pilot Lane Aim’s role in the film series and focus more on Gigi Andalucia.
Story
The year is U.C. 0105. Twelve years have passed since the end of the second Neo Zeon War (Char’s Rebellion). The anti-Earth Federation Movement “Mafty,” has taken a stand against the corruption of the Earth Sphere. Mafty carries out fierce acts of terrorism, assassinating high officials of the Federation government one after another, but it gains a certain level of support from the populace who are growing more opposed to the Federation government. The movement is led by Hathaway Noa, under the name “Mafty Navue Erin”, the son of Bright Noa, a famous officer of the Earth Federation Forces who once participated in the One Year War. With firsthand knowledge of the ideals and ideologies of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, he has become a warrior following in their footsteps. His destiny, however, is drastically altered as he encounters the Federation Forces officer Kenneth Sleg and a mysterious young beauty named Gigi Andalucia.
Source: Gundam-Hathaway
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