10 Best Movies To Watch While Waiting For Sydney Sweeney's Gundam

The upcoming release of 2027's Gundam movie is a much-anticipated one, making it a welcome fact that there are plenty of fitting films for excited potential viewers to watch or revisit in the meanwhile. As a sci-fi franchise that is now over 40 years old, there's no shortage of Gundam history and fascinating tales of mobile suits for curious parties to witness.

No franchise exists in a vacuum, though, and it's been evident that the wider Gundam franchise has drawn from and reflected other stories as much as the universe itself influences other narratives and releases. The upcoming 2027 Gundam movie is one that's in a particularly interesting position in this regard, given both that it features stars like Sydney Sweeney, and as it arrives in an era where we've had a range of other interesting mecha and broader sci-fi movies enter the fold relatively recently.

Excitingly, this means there's a considerable roster of movies that are salient viewing material for those preparing for the release of the 2027 Gundam film. Be this down to their exploration of the mecha subgenre, or otherwise a matter of how they relate to the upcoming Gundam project more directly, those waiting for the film to debut have plenty of other releases to cut their teeth on up until then.

10 Promare

Promare is a colorful dive into the world of sci-fi stories that isn't afraid to also embrace the eccentricities of the mecha subgenre in part, serving as a fun story and a reminder of the differing ways this corner of the movie landscape can be explored.

The 2019 movie story of Promare is set in a world wherein half of humanity died in an event known as the Great World Blaze, with some of the survivors developing pyrokinetic abilities in the aftermath, and are known as the Burnish. Promare centers around Galo Thymos, one of the firefighters who work to ensure radical Burnish are dealt with.

This unfolds into a dramatic story to begin with, which only becomes more dramatic once a huge mecha given the playful name of the Deus X Machina enters into the narrative, and amps things up even further. In the wait for a live-action Gundam, the non-stop action and pace of Promare is certainly a prime candidate to tide audiences over, while also whetting their appetite for more.

9 Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim is, in many ways, the spiritual successor to the likes of Gundam and Power Rangers. This means it's effectively the perfect candidate to watch in the buildup to the release of the upcoming live-action Gundam movie, for more than one reason.

Much like in the Gundam franchise, Pacific Rim follows a universe wherein humanity looks to huge mechanical entities to protect them. For Pacific Rim, this comes in the form of the mechas known as Jaegers, who fight against the alien kaiju that consistently attack. Jaegars can only be properly piloted by more than one pilot working together, who have to psychically link with one another and the entity in order to sustain the delicate balance this requires.

This premise allows Pacific Rim to have immense, colossal mecha fights that are simultaneously prime demonstrations of the pilots' mental state and character development, since their thoughts and feelings play a key role in the battles and how they unfold.

8 Project Hail Mary

As one of the biggest sci-fi movies in recent history, Project Hail Mary is worth watching to see what's possible for the genre in the modern day, and what resonated with audiences strongly in the sci-fi realm most recently. This is particularly true for the 2026 movie, since the way it unpacks its story of scientists Grace and Rocky working together to save their respective planets won over the hearts of its audience in no small capacity.

Project Hail Mary also works as a pre-emptive watch before the new Gundam movie comes out in that it is also a story that manages to intertwine much grander sci-fi stakes and the mythos around it with the very human stories of its protagonists - even though, in this case, one of them is a rock-like alien known as an Eridian.

While Space Runaway Ideon: A Contact can be a trickier movie to hunt down and watch, hunting for the film alone should help those chomping at the bit for the upcoming Gundam movie to while away the hours until then.

A Contact is a condensed-down film version of the Space Runaway Ideon show itself, which is then followed up with Space Runaway Ideon: Be Invoked.

This is particularly pertinent for Gundam fans, as Ideon was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who also created the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, directly after the Gundam show itself, meaning it's very much a spiritual successor of sorts. This is clear from Space Runaway Ideon's story, which involves its central characters discovering a range of ships that combine into one huge mecha, putting them in the crosshairs of anyone and everyone who wants a piece of its immense power.

The movies and franchise do have a strikingly dark tone that is decidedly intense at times, aiding it in being a fascinating older example of the other directions a Gundam-like story can go down, and a useful comparison point for other stories that veer into similar territory.

6 Akira

Image via MovieStillsDB

With its sci-fi story that depicts how gaining an immense futuristic power unchecked can present colossal dangers to humanity, Akira is a story that has a range of notable parallels to the Gundam series, even if the two explore many of the same concepts and subject matter in decidedly different ways.

Akira is a story also immersed around machines, but with these being motorbikes rather than mechas. With that said, its conflicts and big set pieces end up on just as intense a scale as many major mecha battles, thanks to the immense psychic powers of plenty of its cast - including antagonist Tetsuo, whose evolving abilities make him a bigger and bigger threat literally and metaphorically until the scale of the conflict is colossal to say the least.

5 Godzilla (1954)

There are a range of Godzilla movies that make sense to watch in the wait for the new Gundam film. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is a logical watch here for a few reasons, for example, and Godzilla Minus Zero's scope and scale also makes it a prime candidate for Gundam fans to enjoy and find a similar overall experience in a lot of senses.

There's something to be said for the original 50s Godzilla movie being the strongest candidate here, though. The care taken to depict Godzilla as immense and powerful - and the fear and reverence the human characters have for him - works in a way that later movies replicate effectively, but that has a special feeling in the story that debuted the creature.

Though there's nobody piloting Godzilla, the movie does replicate the core appeal of Gundam on this level too, as even decades later, there's a sense of scale to the creature that leaves you as in awe of it as you are of Gundam's mobile suits as well.

4 Reality

Reality is quite different compared to the rest of the films on this list. This is because it's an example of Sydney Sweeney's acting talents rather than being more centered around the mechs themselves, since Sweeney's name being attached to the project is another key selling point for it.

While Sweeney's movie and show history has had some definite peaks and troughs, Reality works as a demonstration of the potential of her on-screen talents, and notably won a 2023 Peabody award. It's also a look at how Sydney Sweeney handles a more three-dimensional character, as she plays the lead role in the movie, which is that of Reality Winner, a real-life whistleblower, whose story is adapted into the plot of the film.

3 The End Of Evangelion

The End of Evangelion is arguably the peak of the Evangelion series, which is saying something, given the show itself is one of the most well-received mech series as well as one of the most well-received sci-fi series of all time.

The End of Evangelion is brooding and haunting, even as it's also a celebration of every character, theme and concept that makes Neon Genesis Evangelion work. In particular, the final half of the film delves into some of the most existential territory of the entire franchise - which is also saying a lot, as it generally pulls no punches with any of its more challenging moments or implications.

Of course, The End of Evangelion is an easy fit for Gundam fans because it shows off the eye-catching EVA unit mechs that are the stars of the overarching story more often than not. Ultimately, though, it's also a stellar movie in this regard because it shows how such figures can be used to explore deeper storylines, too, which is key as well.

2 Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway

When it comes to preparing for the upcoming Gundam movie, it's no surprise that some of the best movies to watch to prepare are in the Gundam series itself. This is doubly true since we've had a wealth of film spinoffs since the franchise first began.

Though some may prefer to watch Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz when it comes to a Gundam film candidate that displays the strengths of the franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway works as a self-contained story in some ways perhaps best.

It's also one of the best candidates for those who are curious about what to potentially expect from the 2027 film. The way in which Hathaway balances being a fresh starting point for prospective Gundam fans with being an installment more veteran fans can appreciate too makes Hathaway a likely reference point for future films, particularly because of the delicate way it handles the geopolitical nature of its story alongside its more action-packed scenes and moments.

1 Mobile Suit Gundam I

When looking to the future of a franchise, it's always worth looking at where it started out, both to get a sense of the path a franchise has walked over its run, and to see what roots and core concepts the next installments may seek to draw from.

As such, Mobile Suit Gundam I is arguably the most important installment for audiences to watch to prepare for the 2027 movie, given it's the first film in the franchise. It's also particularly useful in this regard since it's a compilation movie that joins together the first 13 episodes of the show, meaning watching it gives you a prime vantage point of how everything started off.

In many regards, the 2027 Gundam is sure to be very different to its 1981 ancestor. However, the heart of this new chapter will hopefully mirror the past, providing the franchise with new, stunning depictions of the mobile suits that define it, and delivering on protagonists who are as compelling as the original's depiction of pilot Amuro Ray and his story.

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