Dragonball Z Movie

[Lord]

Another thing, may seem strange to believe it, but in some places the characters from the franchise are more known by young adults and teens than the ones from Star Wars, i'm not sure if it was as big in the USA, but DB definitelly has a large following, thinking it won't be successful because it's obscure? Really? Before the Cap films, many would more easily know of Vegeta than Bucky.

Even if it wasn't that popular, all that it matters is that you make a good and entertaining film, those that didn't like the franchise before, may like it after. Dragon Ball Evolution was like Captain America from 1990, just act as if it didn't happen and move on. Fox is now rushing for the Fantastic Four because it's the new crase going around in Hollywood, but before that i imagine there were plenty of excuses not to adapt American comics as well.

Mangas sell plenty of volumes and most of the fans don't even buy them, they're far from being obscure stories (even that wouldn't make them unadaptable), what more excuses do you need until they're taken serious? Shane Black to make a hit Death Note Film? The Rurouni Kenshin sequels to make 100 million each? Plenty of potencial if you ask me.

 

[Wildcard]

Saying that DB/Z has no potential on the big screen is all wrong. Look on Youtube, that site alone will show you that it still has a huge following. Adapt something faithful & it'll be huge.

DBZ is one of those things that will always be popular for the simple fact that new fans are always getting drawn in...in addition to the older & loyal fans who continue to support it.

I see no reason why the fanbase wouldn't come together to see a live action movie if it were done properly & looked like the manga come to life. If it can be done with Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Avengers, etc., it can be done with Dragon Ball/Z as well.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

3- I think you're looking at this wrong, DBZ was pretty much the second half of the story, you can't start it in the middle and have all these characters and relationships there as if it was nothing. And what came before DBZ was arguably the most imaginative part in the series, focusing more on world building, i think there should be 2 or 3 films focusing on that before you moved to the Saiyans, and even then, Namek would probably be the best place to end.

I think there should be a Trilogy for the pre-DBZ time, setting the stage with a fun action adventure that gives us an interesting world, above all, the first film should be more about the quest than the end of the road, Red Ribon could be the main villains for most of it, and then accidentally wake up Picollo in the 2nd film.

Dragon Ball deserves its share of the fame, but you have to admit DBZ is where the db legacy really gets his prowess from. The 8 DBZ films should come first, and then the DB prequels, just as lotr came before the 3 hobbit films with the same logic.

I think if you want to make Dragon Ball Z work you adapt it exactly as it is. DBZ is one of the few things that can stand to be adapted straight from the source whereas most require drastic changes. Keep the humor, the adult themes, & all of the characters as they are.

There's no need to change anything at all (like they did with DBE). Start it off with Dragon Ball and move on accordingly. Don't spit in the fans face & they'll love you for it. I know I would.

that's why it is an 8 picture deal, to tell as much of the story faithfully as possible. i mentione din the saiyajinn saga description that an easy way to cut down on time is to minimize the tplay on the other world. as well, although i believe the comedy should be there, it should also be kept to a minimum to have a serious and dramatic feel/tone to the films, as we do with other blockpuster epic franchises such as star wars, harry potter, lotr, matrixd, and even jason bourne.

 

[Lord]

The problem is that DBZ itself is a direct continuation and a film would have a hard time explaining all of the details in there that were left from the first DB. The division itself was just done for the anime, since the manga was allways published with the same name, Viz is the only publisher that has divided it into 2 manga series to, since in most countries the mangas are still published as a single series without the DB/ DBZ division.

Many even think the series should have ended in the Namek saga, which would be a briliant way to end, so, i think the adaptations should get through the original DB in 2 or 3 films and then shoot Vegeta saga and Namek Saga back-to-back as a sort of conclusion to this whole series.

If those are successful and you still want to do more, then you do the Androids and Cell, and so on, i think that jumping right into DBZ is a mistake though, and seeing a Majin Buu saga before the complete Picollo arc is very weird, many don't even like the Buu arc much (I did, most didn't).

For the tone i think it should be funny and light in the style of Indiana Jones and Iron Man, but not devolve into a sitcom like Fantastic Four. As the series progressed into DBZ territory, the tone would become darker and more serious like Harry Potter did. To be frank, DB is a more interesting journey when you follow it from the beginning of Goku's adventures, this isn't like The Hobbit or the Star Wars Prequels, it's a necessary part of the franchise, if you later want to do prequels and spin-offs, then Goku's father and Trunks from the future are better ways to branch from the series.

You can change certain stuff, as long as it keeps the heart of the franchise, Cell Games for example, you don't need to spend an entire film with a fight or an all powerful being creating a fighting tournament, those are just convenient ways for the writer to show fights in a manga.

 

[DorkyFresh]

Dragon Ball deserves its share of the fame, but you have to admit DBZ is where the db legacy really gets his prowess from. The 8 DBZ films should come first, and then the DB prequels, just as lotr came before the 3 hobbit films with the same logic.

I disagree...they should start off with DB then go into DBZ. Doing it backwards will make the action sequences from a DB film look tame and boring compared to action scenes from a DBZ-based film.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

I disagree...they should start off with DB then go into DBZ. Doing it backwards will make the action sequences from a DB film look tame and boring compared to action scenes from a DBZ-based film.

well then perhaps the action sequences in db should be portrayed as less impactful than in dbz. it's the same as captain america looking really powerful in his own film but standing a chance against actual superhuman opponents in other films, such as when he tried fighting loki and lost easily.

i stand by my opinion. dbz film franchise comes first and then dragonball.

 

[Lord]

Starting with DBZ without any setup is a huge mistale IMO, too many relationships to take care of, an entire fighting system to explain without proper time to do so and Goku dying midway through the movie without much time to make us care for him.

 

[Wildcard]

Exactly. Not to mention there are loads of people unaware of the full story and all they know is DBZ and not Dragon Ball as it were with Kid Goku.

It's essential to start there to fully build on these characters (Goku, Bulma, Chi-Chi, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo, Master Roshi, Kami, etc.). If you go straight into DBZ, you're leaving out some major work & you'd also be cheating the series of both a proper start and some great stories to adapt to live action.

I won't even take the notion of this manga being in live action seriously until they decide to do it right. And doing it right means starting with Dragon Ball, not Z.

 

[EssayM]

I would love a faithful DBZ movie, but there are a couple problems:

1. In order to justify the sizeable budget this would surely need, there needs to be widespread interest and demand for DBZ among the GA. And there may have been back when the show was on Cartoon Network and every kid was watching it, but it's been at least a decade since then and most of those kids have grown up. Most of the people that are still asking for it are us diehard fans, and I doubt we're a big enough audience to justify such a large investment.

2. "Okay, so what? We'll introduce it to a new audience by showing them the backstory!" Problem is, Dragon Ball alone would probably require at least four films to get all the material out of it, and DBZ itself would require even more. Unless you're Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, there is no way to get a studio to sign off on that many films for an untested product, never mind keeping an audience interested that long (there's a reason why franchises tend to burn out after the third film). So you would either need to bite the bullet and cut out some of the less-important sagas/storylines, or else just forget it.

Personally, I would like it if they could somehow condense the events of Dragonball (one film at the most) and just get right to DBZ. Given that half the character backstories are just "We used to be enemies but now we're friends", I don't think we need to show every encounter. Maybe Tien and Yamcha don't need whole sagas devoted to them. And stuff like the Ginyu Force, some of the comedy relief moments, all the thinking-while-flying-to-a-battle scenes, could easily be trimmed down or even cut out entirely.

Basically, if you wanted a DBZ adaptation to be even a little profitable, you'd have to be willing to be a little loose with the material (not as much as DBE, obviously, but a little). There's just no practical way to make a scene-for-scene adaptation of the show.

 

[Lord]

Actually, the fandom is still quite big, i know the USA isn't very big on animes/ Manga, that's why there hasn't been a proper adaptation from there yet, but look at the number themselves of how much the mangas have sold, and most of the fans don't even buy the manga.

I think that Frieza arc should be looked at as a "finishing point", once they reach it, they can still make more sequels, but do it slower and alllways in pairs (like following it with a shot back-to-back adaptation of Androids + Cell).

DB is going to be a harder sell than Harry Potter, but if you give it a proper adaptation and only spend some 100 million with well planned filming and good marketing then you're going to have a sure return of your investment. I say, don't rush it and do a first film with young Goku, Bulma and the Red Ribon, give a complete story but don't defeat the entire RR, then do 1 or 2 more films dealing with Picolo and the end of the RR. After this do Saiyan and Frieza sagas back to back.

The films sell themselves if you let them, Evolution was barelly in the Cinemas in some of the countries it was the most popular, in some places it wasn't even there, and had little in common about what we love about Dragon Ball, then the GA wasn't interested either because it was overall a bad movie.

 

[Wildcard]

I kinda disagree there. DBZ is very popular here in America. Back when I was in school, a lot of kids always talked about it pretty regularly & people still do to this day. I constantly see it being referenced in some way on Twitter or Facebook. It really seems to be the only manga/anime besides Avatar: The Last Airbender that has really caught on & remained within the mind of audiences in the U.S.

It wouldn't really be a hard sell...only if they change the fundamentals behind it (like Evolution). Honestly, cashing in on DB/Z should be one of the easiest things. The fans love the material as it is & it's all there waiting on the right screenwriter/director to grab it and turn it into something that's live action.

I guarantee a Dragon Ball Z movie done correctly should have no problem doing the same numbers that superhero films do. I'd most definitely imagine the Frieza, Cell, & Majin Buu sagas would all be more than capable of being billion dollar movies.

Just my $0.02 though.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Starting with DBZ without any setup is a huge mistale IMO, too many relationships to take care of, an entire fighting system to explain without proper time to do so and Goku dying midway through the movie without much time to make us care for him.

A lot of people in my generation (I'm an early 90s baby) watched DragonballZ and not Dragonball at all. I think you're making this a bigger deal than it really is. And even Dragonball Kai, the HD remaster of the manga-translated-to-anime only tells the story of DragonballZ, with nothing at all given to Dragonball.

 

[Wildcard]

A lot of people in my generation (I'm an early 90s baby) watched DragonballZ and not Dragonball at all. I think you're making this a bigger deal than it really is. And even Dragonball Kai, the HD remaster of the manga-translated-to-anime only tells the story of DragonballZ, with nothing at all given to Dragonball.

Um, no. Actually, Dragon Ball Z Kai has many, many references & flashbacks to Dragon Ball. There are tons throughout the series, especially the Saiyan/Namek/Frieza sagas.

Dr. Gero himself is a huge reference to Dragon Ball considering his connection with the Red Ribbon army.

In theory, you could get away with just showing some narrative scenes at the beginning to depict Goku's adventures as a kid but I just think it'd kind of be a cop out to skip over those stories because they aren't "as popular" as the ones of Z.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Um, no. Actually, Dragon Ball Z Kai has many, many references & flashbacks to Dragon Ball. There are tons throughout the series, especially the Saiyan/Namek/Frieza sagas.

Dr. Gero himself is a huge reference to Dragon Ball considering his connection with the Red Ribbon army.

In theory, you could get away with just showing some narrative scenes at the beginning to depict Goku's adventures as a kid but I just think it'd kind of be a cop out to skip over those stories because they aren't "as popular" as the ones of Z.

I honestly do not remember that many. Can you please name some. And I also don't think they contributed to the narrative very much at that point

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I have a hard time believing that the mass American or world wide audience would embrace the goofiness of the DRAGON BALL stories to the point that it would be financially successful enough to keep the series going through to DRAGON BALL Z and the story lines of that phase of the DB saga. Sorry. Especially in live action. Maybe some kind of PIXAR-esque CGI film. Maybe. Truthfully, this all sounds like a pipe dream.

 

[Victarion]

I took a crack at this a while back. Using the quest format of Dragon Ball, with the Red Ribbon Army as the frontline villains while King Piccolo waited for them to recover the Dragon Balls. Bulma wanted to use her wish to free her family from their service to the RR Army instead of the boyfriend thing. Yamcha wanted to use the Dragon Balls to overthrow someone or another and solidify his status as a bandit king. I forget what Goku wanted. The humanoid animals were old experiments from a defunct army. The RR Army freed them and was instrumental in granting them their basic human rights. I wish I could find that treatment again.

 

[pgioffre]

Would be great if they could make it really good.

 

[Lord]

When i was a kid i could accept a lot of things, i could get into the middle of a cartoon without having watched previous episodes, that's why DBZ was able to be successful. But if you try making it a film you need more build-up, you can't just show a bunch of super powered fighters and brush over the power system, or kill Goku 1 hour after he was introduced when all the time he had was to fight and not much more.

And if you want to ignore the original DB, then you also have to ask the question first, is every DBZ story worth telling as fast as possible? Is Majin Buu more important than Red Ribbon or King Picollo? Not to mention the movie is called "Dragon Ball", in the beginning of Z they're not very important, and they barelly get an introduction, before you turn them into not such a big deal, you need to introduce them properly and let them be the center of a story.

I still think that Frieza arc should be the end game, after that they may chose to continue or not, but it's the high point.

I have a hard time believing that the mass American or world wide audience would embrace the goofiness of the DRAGON BALL stories to the point that it would be financially successful enough to keep the series going through to DRAGON BALL Z and the story lines of that phase of the DB saga. Sorry. Especially in live action. Maybe some kind of PIXAR-esque CGI film. Maybe. Truthfully, this all sounds like a pipe dream.

Hollywood has handled more ridiculous ideas than Dragon ball IMAO

And it's a manga/ anime, they can get away with certain reactions, doesn't mean a film needs to adapt those. Manga adaptations should be a cross between book and comic book adaptations, adapting the main concept and plot, but changing one or two things. Keep the relationships but write them as a movie, not as a comic book, that doesn't mean you need to tone down the humor, just that it's won't be near as over the top.

I took a crack at this a while back. Using the quest format of Dragon Ball, with the Red Ribbon Army as the frontline villains while King Piccolo waited for them to recover the Dragon Balls. Bulma wanted to use her wish to free her family from their service to the RR Army instead of the boyfriend thing. Yamcha wanted to use the Dragon Balls to overthrow someone or another and solidify his status as a bandit king. I forget what Goku wanted. The humanoid animals were old experiments from a defunct army. The RR Army freed them and was instrumental in granting them their basic human rights. I wish I could find that treatment again.

I quite like that idea, lets that part of the series stay, keeping a lot of the freshness and originality.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

I have a hard time believing that the mass American or world wide audience would embrace the goofiness of the DRAGON BALL stories to the point that it would be financially successful enough to keep the series going through to DRAGON BALL Z and the story lines of that phase of the DB saga. Sorry. Especially in live action. Maybe some kind of PIXAR-esque CGI film. Maybe. Truthfully, this all sounds like a pipe dream.

In all honesty, I think the comedy should be kept to a minimum and that the film series should be darker and more dramatic. A running gag could be Goku's stupidity due to lack of education & knock to the head and have a certain character as comic relief but that's about it.

 

[terry78]

A PG-13 CG film would work to be honest.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

A PG-13 CG film would work to be honest.

not CG. live action.

 

[terry78]

Yes, I know that's what you want, but I'm saying that's what would probably work.

 

[DrCosmic]

Dragonball Z is what caught on in the US for a reason. This thread says Dragonball Z for a reason. That's what should be adapted. After all, they tried to do a serious Westernized Dragonball adaptation, and we ended up with Dragonball Revolution or something like that. People were pretty much like: where's Vegeta?

I think you need the Saiyan Saga to really set things up. Use a sort of 'proto-World Games tournament' to create some of the backstory from Dragonball, ala enemy with Piccolo, and the use of the Earth Dragonballs. Then y'know, Saiyans come and things don't go well. Until they do of course.

You want to do a lot with a little, so spend $100M in South Africa. Get the best in terms of fight choreography possible. A CGI team animating a fight as they see fit won't cut it. You have to recapture that feeling of watching DBZ on the screen, of watching the Matrix and that feeling of, like, OMG, did they just do that? Some creativity will set the film apart.

For a sequel do Namek/Ginyu Force/Frieza and a threequel do Androids/Trunks/and Cell. For the Fourquel Fusion/Buu/Majin Buu all that stuff. Now if you're trying to do it yearly you can break those things down and have say the Androids be their own movie.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Yes, I know that's what you want, but I'm saying that's what would probably work.

You know there were talks about doing harry potter like that before it got turned into live action? Yeah, I'm taking that over a cgi dbz franchise any day.

Dragonball Z is what caught on in the US for a reason. This thread says Dragonball Z for a reason. That's what should be adapted. After all, they tried to do a serious Westernized Dragonball adaptation, and we ended up with Dragonball Revolution or something like that. People were pretty much like: where's Vegeta?

I think you need the Saiyan Saga to really set things up. Use a sort of 'proto-World Games tournament' to create some of the backstory from Dragonball, ala enemy with Piccolo, and the use of the Earth Dragonballs. Then y'know, Saiyans come and things don't go well. Until they do of course.

You want to do a lot with a little, so spend $100M in South Africa. Get the best in terms of fight choreography possible. A CGI team animating a fight as they see fit won't cut it. You have to recapture that feeling of watching DBZ on the screen, of watching the Matrix and that feeling of, like, OMG, did they just do that? Some creativity will set the film apart.

For a sequel do Namek/Ginyu Force/Frieza and a threequel do Androids/Trunks/and Cell. For the Fourquel Fusion/Buu/Majin Buu all that stuff. Now if you're trying to do it yearly you can break those things down and have say the Androids be their own movie.

THANK YOU.

I wrote in my op how far along the story should be told, and where each should start and end.

For the saiyan origin story, Saiyan Saga
For Frieza's arc, Namek Saga then Frieza Saga
For Cell's arc, Android Saga then Cell saga
For Buu's Arc, the Majin Saga then the Buu Saga then the Pure Buu Saga

I want as much of the story told as possible, the comedy should be kept to a minimum and a lot of the Other world can be taken out to make the story more condensed.

 

[EssayM]

Dragonball Z is what caught on in the US for a reason. This thread says Dragonball Z for a reason. That's what should be adapted. After all, they tried to do a serious Westernized Dragonball adaptation, and we ended up with Dragonball Revolution or something like that. People were pretty much like: where's Vegeta?

I think you need the Saiyan Saga to really set things up. Use a sort of 'proto-World Games tournament' to create some of the backstory from Dragonball, ala enemy with Piccolo, and the use of the Earth Dragonballs. Then y'know, Saiyans come and things don't go well. Until they do of course.

You want to do a lot with a little, so spend $100M in South Africa. Get the best in terms of fight choreography possible. A CGI team animating a fight as they see fit won't cut it. You have to recapture that feeling of watching DBZ on the screen, of watching the Matrix and that feeling of, like, OMG, did they just do that? Some creativity will set the film apart.

For a sequel do Namek/Ginyu Force/Frieza and a threequel do Androids/Trunks/and Cell. For the Fourquel Fusion/Buu/Majin Buu all that stuff. Now if you're trying to do it yearly you can break those things down and have say the Androids be their own movie.

Good plan. I was thinking the first movie could have an LOTR-style opening where they explain the mythology of the world (summoning the dragon, why they can fly and shoot energy, etc.) and give a brief overview of Goku's adventures in Dragonball (nothing major, just enough to establish the major relationships and explain why all of his friends look up to him the way they do), and then open with Goku meeting his friends at Kame House and take it from there.

In all honesty, I think the comedy should be kept to a minimum and that the film series should be darker and more dramatic. A running gag could be Goku's stupidity due to lack of education & knock to the head and have a certain character as comic relief but that's about it.

It depends. Someone like Krillin or Gohan or Bulma having humorous reactions in the midst of a fight? Goku acting like a ridiculous man-child in his off-time? Awesome!

Stuff like the funny magic animals, Chichi and Bulma being catty, Gohan needing a tutor, most if not all of the Ginyu Force stuff? Pass.

My criteria for inclusion (with the whole thing, not just the comedy) is: Does it matter to the overall story? If not, can it be included without too much damage to the tone/pacing/effects budget? If the answer to either of those questions is no, chuck it.

And finally, totally unrelated but still awesome, look what I found on YouTube:

[YT]K_YXkbBwEa0[/YT]
[YT]Vx-E9pzOFPM[/YT]