Dragon Ball Z Live Action Movie Update
Monday July 14, 2008
Okay, there's been tons of buzz about the speculation of the upcoming DBZ Live Action Movie. There's even been a few protests organized by fans who just really think its a bad idea.So, here's the scoop.
From all appearances, 20th Century Fox IS in fact making the movie. They've even got it listed on their website, although there's no pics, posters or trailers to accompany it. According to IMDB, Justin Chatwin (The Invisible, Lost, War of the Worlds) will play the part of Goku. Jamie Chung (Days of Our Lives, The Real World) has the part of Chi Chi and James Marsters (you remember him as "Spike" from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series) will play Lord Piccolo. Also worth noting, Yun-Fat Chow (Captain Sao Feng from Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End) will play Master Roshi.
As previously reported, the movie will focus on the King Piccolo Saga which is Dragon Ball, not DBZ so there's no Trunks, Gohan or other favorite Z-fighters.
That said, I did find this little series of what appears to be movie posters on YouTube which is supported by this guy's post showing what he says is the "official movie poster". You'll notice that it has shots of "Frieza" as well as "Cell" (Frieza looks pretty cool I think) but you'll also notice that it shows some other shots, like that of Jackie Chan playing the Monkey King in The Forbidden Kingdom and what appears to be some shots from the Death Note Live Action, so who knows?
I also found this which purports to be the DBZ movie trailer and parts of it look pretty cool but there's also a shot of Meg Ryan in there and as far as I can tell, she's not in the movie. I found another vid that said "Dragon Ball Movie Trailer Sneak Preview (REAL!) but it had shots of The Forbidden Kingdom (what is it with the Monkey King?) and 300, so my guess is the real trailer's aren't out yet and fans have taken it upon themselves to create their own versions.
Will Dragon Ball The Movie be a hit or a flop? The jury's still out but I gotta' say, I've got such high hopes for this film. I'm not overly impressed with the casting so far - I like some of these guys but the whole thing just has sort of a low budget feel if you know what I mean. BUT with all the effects they can do now with CGI, Dragon Ball is a perfect choice for showing off some of those talents and you never know... it might turn out to be pretty good. I'll keep you posted as I hear more. In the meantime, let's all try not to get too enthralled with the DB Movie debate... at least until we see a trailer or two :)
Comments
Hi Katherine. I intern at 20th Century Fox. Jim, the director along with the executives
have been working really hard in doing a smooth adaptation of the popular anime Dragonball movie. The young Fox executive in charge of production, Mr. Kang has been developing this project for many years. This film has been seven years in the making. I must admit the movie has been in development for many years. The studio has alot of hope for the film.
man wtf! no gohan in the movie im looking forward to the movie man but damn if they dont have gohan is not even worth going to see the movie they should do it with the freeza saga
Ummm about the teaser trailer i think there is one its a teaser though it shows i glimpse of goku(chatwin) doing a kamehameha and him flying in a flaming ball of fire(chatwin in it) and so even though theres fake ones theres a teaser in thier somewhere just gotta find it
You cant all of a sudden,start in the freeza saga! Then you miss Goku Vs Vegeta’s 1st Epic Battle.Gohan turning oozaru.the kaioken…the spirit bomb….and more. Besides its good they start from the very beginning Piccolo because if the movie sucks at least they didnt spoil the best saga’s.That way they can improve on the next movie more and more as the story progresses.or theres always somebody better to take it and make it better.
Just curious, does anyone know why krillin isn’t in the movie? I figured gohan isn’t in here yet (but will be w/in the trilogy) as they need to build on Goku and Chi-chi’s relationship. Any info would be great, thanks.
Lonz makes a good point - if they started with the Freiza saga then we’d be missing a lot of the history. The problem with the “doing better on the next one” theory though is that if it flops, they’ll never concede that it was their production - rather they’re more likely to assume that its not what the fans want and in that case, they wouldn’t make the sequels.
its gonna suck. not every tv series should be made into a movie. this isgonna make ppl hate dbz
Are you kidding me. This is a dumb idea just because everybody looks alike in dragon ball. Give or take a hair cut or body mass. Other than that if they dont cast a family of brother than look alike in the face. this is gonna be another street fighter
i hope this pushes through.. the fight scenes is going to be a real challenge, though starting at the piccolo saga there aint any super saiyan yet… still i want to see how they’ll adapt this in the movie.. i hope it wont be like the street fighter movie where van dam was guile.. that movie suckeD!
thanks for this update, finaly found some information that wasnt made up pleasekeep us posted on what you find out
i’ve found a pretty believable trailer look it up at gino69romero on youtube
I CANT THEYRE GOING TO LET A FAG JUSTIN CHATWIN PLAY GOKU. HE LOOKS LIKE A TOTAL WUS. SOMEBODY NEEDS TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT A SAIYAN IS!!
come on none of those ppl look anything like the characters i mean no offense to japanease/chinease ppl but look at the chartoon none of them are chinease/japanease
so forgive me if im wrong but that totally screws everything up. its like saying hey guys saiyens are chinease.
I’ve read up on what the movie is about, and I think they kind of stripped it, and I think it will be a flop, but I’m hoping it’ll be a at least a minor hit
All i have to say “white guy” playing goku already killed this movie, its gonna be another stero typical movie about white people fighting and being the strongest race BS. all you DB fans should not be supporting this movie! and 20th Century what a disappointment! and steven chow too very sad to here
All i have to say “white guy” playing goku already killed this movie, Common theres gotta be someone else out there and besides its gonna be another stero typical movie about white people fighting and being the strongest race BS. all you DB fans should not be supporting this movie! and 20th Century what a disappointment! and steven chow too very sad to here
i like gokus bum
this dragonball movie sounds lame i love dbz and tht but with these ppl playin these caractors it just dnt sound right i dunno who u should choose really but it should be more famous actors like vin deasal should play piccolo cus he would be a awesome person 2 act like him i think you should ask fans wat they fink be4 u make this movie
yours sincerly nathan
what were they thinking casting goku as an adult its a movie in the dragon ball saga not the DBZ one he needs to be a kid
justin chatwin does not suit goku, his face is too soft, like i’ll admit goku is playful but when he got mean, you know he is in for it and he dosnt have the cut body, maybe han from tokyo drift, the guy that died in the rx-7 yeah? and the vin diesal idea playing piccolo, good idea. the graphics on some of the clips look really bad, they need the person who done transformers.
There are,
Certain things which should remain animated,
Certain things which should remain Live action,
Certain things which should remain CGI,
and Certain things which can pass these barriers easily
Dragonball belongs to that which should remain animated or you wont be able to do the spirit of the characters or the creators justice. To be blunt, this is a popular thing and they want a piece of that pie too (milking it).
Some are saying that no gohan is stupid. He was my fav. charcter but if its DB not DBZ then gohan cant be in it
Theres rumors though it was signed for a 3 movie contract but who knows. If it is I hope they don’t use DBGT but use DB, DBZ Frieza Saga and DBZ Cell saga. And not together. I also heard of a 4 thats DBGT and Bu but I think that wont happen. And PLEASE DONT PUT ANY BAD GUYS TOGETHER IN THE SAME MOVIE TAKING AWAY FROM STORY LINE. (oh and if a movie with Cell then there should be a in past look at Rad Barren army with goku)
I personally think that this movie will be horrible the cast doesnt look good and dragon ball and dbz had so many things that you just cant incorperate into a live action movie but this is just my personal opinion so unless they do some really good special effects this movie is going to suck
People think you have to make a movie just like the anime series so you dont piss off the fans. Come on, people. Was the Transformers movie JUST like the cartoon? If it was, it would be cheesy. But I’m sure some of the cartoon fans were complaining because they didnt see their favorite cartoon transformer in the movie. Same goes for Batman and other good movies. I’m a DBZ fan, but I dont care if you take out the long hours of dialogue and make it more…realistic, more believable. I just wish someone with alot of money and time and talent would take the original DBZ storyline (its freakin gold) and make a movie with it.
regarless of how it does, we’re all gonna be there. hoping and praying we get to see something that reminds us of the good ol’ days dbz ruled our afternoon.
all you dickheads that are baging out this movie should go die in a hole if you think you can do a better job go ahead and do it if not i suggest you all shut the hell up
I personally think this movie is going to sell out but mainly due to people wanting to see how bad it’s made. Even so even if it’s epic fail it’s never easy to make a live action film from an anime least there going to put a huge amount of effort into the production.
what about the story, i heard they are in school, I hope this is not true or it goes against the whole story of goku’s background. maybe they should name this movie something else and change all the character names so that it is not a DBZ movie, so they don’t mess up a good thing.
oh yeah, Justin Chatwin looks like a p*$$y, what were they thinking?
Those Fox employees making up excuses for raping such a great legend with this cheap ripoff and insulting the fans who are protesting and boycotting it should jump off a cliff right now!!!
hey guys , they are making 3 movies out of this , the first one is about lord piccolo from the dragonball series then the sequal is about the saiyons , and the last one is when they fight frieza , they finish at frieza coz the legend is about goku and only one super saiyon , still i think itll be good
yes i fine this utterly insluting… first of all the characters dont even look like there from dbz… you cannot recreat dbz’s greatness in to real life this is offensive to me and all of dbz i hope they abandom this futile attempt in to makeing money .. akira is turning circles in his grave for this h hope you bastars are happy for what you have done you have gave a low blow to all of the dbz relm *falls dbz anime style…
this is messed up kids if they wanna recreat it at least make me look namiken not human bastards ! that guy should play the role of master roshi NOT ME im green with inteni not old bald and peeling this is insulting to me hope you all die for this
TELL YOUR FOX BIG WIGS I HOPE THEY DIE A SWITH DEATH FOR THIS THIS IS A OUTRAGE!!!! YOU CANNOT CAST A MERE HUMAN TO PLAY MY PART WTF!!! YOU NEED HIM TO BE GREEN WITH INTENI AND ALSO GOKU IS NOT A WHITE BOY NORE IS HE OLD IN THIS SAGA GET IT RIGHT@!!
I think they should make the whole cast and the production heads sit & watch all 153 Dragonball episodes.Mabe then they will get a clue.
like wtf.. the movie is nothing like the show i have never saw goku doubt himself like ever picolo looks nothing like the real one in the show
I think there is a big chance this movie is crap. The onlty reason for this is fox makes crap babied movies which most of the world does not want. I say universal studios makes DBZ with the saian saga, friza saga, cell saga, then buu. Then it would be the best move ever
Jet li - Goku
Tony Ja (ong back guy) - Vegita
Jackie Chan should play Jackie Chun from the world martial arts tournament. That b sic…. But Jet Li is to old to play goku
GL FOX, hurry up and finish
i thought goku was suposed to look japanese. why is a white guy playing him? not only that but a skinny white guy. goku is suposed to be goodlooking boyish and well built. this guy is boyish maybe and thats it.
I think Takeshi Kaneshiro would be a great goku if he bulked up a little bit.
I dont know if this is real or not i definately after reading this believe it will be but still cannot be certain. Even if the movie isnt sucessful even if it gets bad reviews i will still go and see it because I’m a huge dragonball, and dragonball z fan thank you for posting this you have at least given me hope because after the legend of zelda movie teaser trailer well :’( well i havent been so certain if this movie will ever exist so thank you for putting this information out to the public i appreciate it!
i just hope they remain as true to the original anime as possible. i dont want to pay money to see my favorite story arc maimed beyond recognition.
ahh man. i am kinda dissapointed. as eveyrone was saying… none of these actors look like the real ppl in dbz! if ur ganna make a dbz movie, at least find actors that look like them. Goku should be ripped. If your not ganna find good actors, save it be4 everyone starts to hate on dbz.
Hey Vuze (torrent downloader) just released the first DBZ live action movie trailer!!!
The only people whose DBZ-opinions will be affected are the closed minded ones, the ones who think the movie should be a spitting image of the show (in which case, there’d be no point in making the movie).
No, goku is not caucasian.
But he’s not chinese either.
They took the original story and changed it-as most movies do-to make it different.
If you go into theaters already planning on hating it, then don’t bother watching.
It’s not like anyone’s forcing you. I’m personally looking forward to comparing and contrasting the two.
you should of put jet li as goku. plus he aint white . you better not f@ck up my fav. anime
that is a dumb @$s idea
dude’s this movie is not racist or a peice of bs instead of whining about the movie send in polls to the studio office they’re taking requests ugh some ppl seriously find out and tell them what u wanna see in the begining movies or we wont have anymore dbz ever again
!!!!!!!!!! dont ruin dbz
This movie is going to be bad. Why is Goku not an Asian? Seriously at least try to stick to the comic as much as possible.
one thing, isn’t goku supposed to have a kame uniform?
why isn’t Tien, Yamcha, krillin, Choutzu, oolong, Bulma, Kami, and Puar in this movie? It’s gonna be real lame with out them in it.
ok i have one major problem with this article… who ever wrote this piece of B.S. has obviously never watched the movie forbiden kingdom… jet li was the monkey king not jackie chan… chan played a drunk beggar who was a master of the drunken fist style… nice try but next time at least try to do your home work…
I have a question. Why can’t DBZ fans spell? It’s probably got something to do with the TV waves killing brain cells, or something, but come on. At least attemp to proof your comment. It makes you look stupid and uneducated, and that isn’t the kind of fandom we want to look like.
The studio behind this movie is racist. Goku should be casted as an asian not a white guy. Why do this white people always want the lead role? Are they really that greedy? No wonder people all over the world are starting to hate them.
OK now i seen videos and pics of this stupid ass movie(sorry for my language).They messed DBZ up in ways it can’t be reformed.I always wanted this,but not this way.How come it couldn’t be like digimon and pokemons movie.A animated film released in the theaters.Who agrees?They could either re-do the past into a movie or even make up a bigger and better villan more powerful than any villan be4.This is just humiliating.Goku in school…thats stupid.Goku was stupid sort of.Van dieasel would be good for piccolo too,i agree on that.Goku should be……..brad pitt,mission impossible guy or even…..a teen since goku at that time was like 15-18
Don’t i make since.Make Broly come back more powerful than ever to the point of him being ssj3.Ignore GT.Make a movie in continuation with the Z series.Goten and Trunks like 16 and 17.Bring the fusion back as well.With a real ssj4 look not a dumb monkey looking ssj4.Make it semilar to the past ssj forms.Please people make this movie canceled and use my idea cuz im smarter
Ive seen the teasers and must say, though not in my taste but what about those that dont know what a super saiyan is or a spirit bomb. I started at Dbz and worked my way to db and gt This movie sould appeal to everyone where their like “Hey that movie fluckin rocked ima go watch the anime” IT ALL ABOUT THE GRAPHIC I want to see a real kamahamaha I believe thats what everyone wants.If the director makes this happens then it will work or flop like Dragon Wars or Street Fighter( + the dude who played Blonka look like a ethiopian)
THEY SHOULD PUT BROLY!!!!! INSTEAD OF GAY ASS LOOKING LORD PICCOLO!
Ok for the people complaining, you need to realize that information points towards this being DRAGON BALL not dragon ball Z, GT ect ect.
From what i’ve read this movie is taking place when goku is just growing up, with the beginning of the goku and piccolo rivalries.
JUST WHAT I HAVE DUG UP.
ok people anyone who bitches about goku being white is retarded, he has always been white same with vegeta, trunks, brollie, bardok, napa, raditz um any saiyin fool, if you need to complain about goku he should be like ten in this movie, and we should all ask why even make a dragon ball movie should have started at z!!!! so atleast vegeta would be in it
TRUE DB FANS! PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION AND COPY THIS TEXT TO EVERY DB RELATED ARTICLE/VID/BOARD AND PROTEST THIS NIGHTMARE OF A MOVIE OUT OF THE EXISTENCE!!!
http://www.petitiononline.com/dblam444/petition.html
Thank you very much!