The finale stage greeting for the completely new movie version of the popular anime series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, was held on May 18th at Marunouchi Piccadilly (Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo).
The movie was announced in 2006, but there was no news about it for a long time. After about 18 years, it was released on January 26th. It was a big hit, with a box office revenue of 4.7 billion yen and an audience of over 2.8 million people as of May 18th after a long run of about 4 months. It has also been talked about as breaking the all-time record for the highest box office revenue of the "Gundam" movie series in about 42 years, surpassing the box office revenue of about 2.3 billion yen recorded by "Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space: Encounters in Space" released in 1982. The movie will end its nationwide screening on May 23rd, 17 weeks after its release, except for some theaters, and director Mitsuo Fukuda, who worked on the anime, thanked the fans in response to the big hit, saying, "We've come this far thanks to everyone's support. These numbers are like a dream."
On this day, a speech was given to celebrate the birthdays of Kira and Cagalli, and a finale stage speech was also held. A live viewing was also held at 335 theaters nationwide. Also appearing were Soichiro Hoshi, who plays Kira Yamato, Rie Tanaka, who plays Lacus Clyne, Akira Ishida, who plays Athrun Zala, Jun Fukuyama, who plays Albert Heinlein, and Hiro Shimono who plays Orphee Lam Tao.