10 Best Sci-Fi Movies to Watch While Waiting for Sydney Sweeney’s Gundam

Promare brings high-energy mecha

Promare, released in 2019, takes place after the Great World Blaze killed half of humanity. Some survivors develop pyrokinetic powers and become known as the Burnish. The story follows firefighter Galo Thymos as his team deals with radical Burnish. When the huge Deus X Machina mecha enters the story, the action escalates, making the film one option for viewers awaiting Gundam.

Pacific Rim pairs pilots

Pacific Rim centers on humanity’s effort to defend itself from alien kaiju using enormous machines called Jaegers. The machines require multiple pilots to work together, linked psychically to operate them.

That setup makes the battles about more than scale: pilots’ thoughts and feelings shape the fights and reflect their character development. The film is described as a spiritual successor to Gundam and Power Rangers.

Project Hail Mary mixes scales

The 2026 film Project Hail Mary follows scientist Grace and Rocky, a rock-like alien known as an Eridian, as they work together to save their respective planets. Its story combines far-reaching science-fiction stakes with the relationship between its protagonists. That balance offers a different kind of viewing choice ahead of the new Gundam movie.

Ideon connects to Tomino

Space Runaway Ideon: A Contact condenses the Space Runaway Ideon show into a film and is followed by Space Runaway Ideon: Be Invoked. The movie may be harder to track down than the other recommendations. The connection is especially relevant to Gundam fans because Yoshiyuki Tomino created Ideon as well as the original Mob… .