Good News: 20th Century Fox are making a Dragon Ball Z movie.
Bad News: James Wong, the guy behind the shitty Final Destination films is the guy directing it.
CHUD learned that Wong is writing/directing the big screen live action adaptation of the popular manga and anime series through a just released casting notice. The site has included the casting breakdown.
Created by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Z tells the story of an alien sent to destroy earth, who has a change of heart and decides to join the humans in their battles. I’m not quite sure the series could ever be done in live action and not look stupid. But who knows, Hollywood executives thought the same thing about Batman before Tim Burton came around (A guy in a bat costume running around?). But with Wong in the helm, I don’t have much faith for this film adaptation.
The movie is ecpected to begin production in Montreal in November.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:53 am
Should I laugh now or later. So anyone know what’s the deal with Speed Racer, Evangelion, or Robotech? I’ll keep checking /Film.
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I can’t believe this is coming before Evangelion Live Action. I simply and utterly can’t believe.
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Wong is capable of doing some very good work, although a few of his recent movies were admitedly stinkers. He and his frequent writing partner (something-or-other Morgan, can’t remember the first name) were behind the second season of the Chris Carter-produced Millennium TV series. They also had a TV show I liked called The Others. Before all that, they were heavily involved in the first season of The X-Files. Many favorite characters on that show were their creations.
With the exception of Final Destination and their (largely unrecognized) work on The X-Files, they seem to have a habit of making commercial failures that a sub-section of genre geeks really love. Too bad I’m not a Dragon Ball Z fan at all, or I’d definitely turn out for this. I don’t suppose a guy named Morgan is also involved?
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I read the premise of the movie, it sounds like its not gonna be good at all. kind of sounds like the same old recycled junk Hollywood feeds us. Very dissapointing.
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Uch. NO THANKS. DBZ is a terrible representation of Anime, Japanese culture, and anything good. ever.
In other words, Dragon Ball Z is trash. I expect nothing more for the film, too.
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:27 am
After reading the casting breakdown on CHUD.com I believe this is a Dragonball movie and not a Dragonball Z movie. And yes…While Dragonball isnt the best anime, it will appeal to everyone who only watches mainstream anime, the same people who watch dubbed anime. So it is a good move, will more than likely make a killin in the box office just because of the name (same reason Boll movies do ‘good’ but are utter CRAP!!!)…just wish it was something more underground and not mainstream.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:40 am
God help us all not that a movie adaptation of dragonball would be good anyway but this is terrible akira toriyama must be sick to his stomach I will not see this trash and anyone else who is a fan wont either american cinema ruins everything these days wong is just as bad a uue bowle God help us all if there is one
October 12th, 2007 at 1:18 am
I THINK A LITTLE KNOWN ACTOR/MARTIAL-ARTIST NAMED MARK DACASCOS WOULD CREATE DEPTH AND CHARACTER TO GOKU PROBABLY GREATER THAN ANYONE ELSE THAT I CAN THINK OF RIGHT NOW. JUST MY LOGICAL OPINION CONSIDERING HE LOOKS LIKE GOKU.FOR EXAMPLE,JUST THINK OF ALL THE ASIAN MARTIAL ARTIST AND ACTORS THAT APPEAR ON FILM AND TV.ALSO,I WONDER WHAT THE DIRECTOR OF THE MOVIE JAMES WONG IS CONSIDERING WHEN IT COMES TO CASTING ALL THE CHARACTERS.LET’S PRAY FOR HOPE DRAGOBALL Z FANS!!!
October 14th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Es una gran noticia, pero ojala no se cambie la historia en nada y los personajes sean lo mas parecidos posibles, ya que invertiran mucho dinero si toman en cuenta estos puntos esta no sera la pelicula del siglo sino del MILENIO
October 15th, 2007 at 9:33 am
If this is true i’m very very happy but i’m not so sure if this is true becouse every day we the fans of dbz see differits thrailers every day!!!
I hope youre sure about this information! and if you have others informations about making the movie.. please send me a email pls pls pls pls …..
my email is alin_nicula2000@yahoo.com
thanks !! :p
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:52 pm
this movie is gonna be pretty freakin awesome
and dbz was probably the only good anime i have ever seen.
October 22nd, 2007 at 4:14 pm
another good show is bleach
October 24th, 2007 at 8:27 am
I’m a huge DBZ fan and lets face it hollywood are going to find some way of making this suck!
and to 3v1lkr0w If something is underground and becomes a movie it is no longer underground taking away a lot of the charm for any original fans.
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:16 am
When are you people going to put that in your heads?! It’s DB! NOT DBZ!!
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Nah guys…don’t be so rude, he has certainly planned something new for this DBZ movie…..am sure this one will be a hit!
November 8th, 2007 at 10:27 am
WELLL .. that’s interesting. It’s seems like the movie title should have no “Z” in it, maybe that was a typo … I have mixed feelings about this film, I don’t know what to expect from Wong because I haven’t seen “Final Destination” but that doesn’t matter. I’m still looking foward to this film and i hope it lives up the hype.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
seriously after reading the breakdown of characters they have, someone has got to step in and correct it. Gohan did not live till Goku’s 18th B-day, and he had the 4 star ball not the 3 star ball. Master Roshi dieing? Come on Master Roshi can’t die. and where is Krillin? Goku and Krillin grew up together. Someone please save this film before some NON fan screws it up like most adapted movies. Mai was NOT Piccolo’s assistance she was Garlic Jr’s henchwoman.
November 14th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Come on and give it a chance… If it were COMPLETELY like the original Dragon Ball, it would be a TOTAL BORE! Let them do what they want with it. It’ll still have the characters, just a different way. It’s like.. spicing it up a lil. I don’t think it’ll be too bad, and I’ll definitally have to drag my dad along to go watch it! I’m psyched.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
I will no doubt watch it, BUT they must include Krillin in the mix. If he is not in the dragonball movie then it is bogus. Puar, Oolong, Ox King all gotta be in it too.
General Tao should be THE NAMEK’s main henchman, before Mai in my opinion.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:19 am
i think its awesome, not sure about chatwin as goku, but james masters is a pretty good actor in my book, it does sound suspiciously like a dragonball plot….becuase of no mention of reditz or vegeta or nappa, but it has got to be better than nothing,
iv been waiting for this for years. as long as the cast improves i think it will be safe…i think someone actually mentioned masters in a bogus casting for the film some years ago..anywayz
November 16th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
WHAT ABOUT VEGETTA???? DBZ is not DBZ without VEGETTA I know this movie will be around it Drangon ball Series not Dragon Ball Z but think about it will be good ending …..VEGETTA is comming!!!
November 25th, 2007 at 12:49 am
You guys are all gay, shut up and let them make the movie. It’s not going to make the db franchise worse than its starting to become, if anything it will get more popular, even if its not very good. And I can’t believe I’m even saying this, you’re all probably like 12 yrs old or close to that. Dorks! MAKE THE MOVIE but try to do a good job ;D
November 30th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Is there a way to get this guy to change the script? We Dragon ball fans have waited a long time for this movie and this guy is gonna ruin it. Why in the world would he adapt the picollo saga, which is for 5 year old children only, instead of the vegeta saga or any other DRAGONBALL Z sagas.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:35 am
sexxx
December 1st, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Nobody! I mean Nobody can make good movie out of DB anime… It’s too complex to fit in a movie, or even a trilogy…
December 12th, 2007 at 6:18 am
the best film of the year
December 13th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Ok while the though of Goku being a un cool high schooler sounds cute and all they can not do this. I mean what the hell? This seems more like dragon ball i don’t wanna see Goku fight piccolo. I want an alliance. I want some friggin Vegeta for god sakes there is no Goku without Vegeta.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Ok while the though of Goku being a un cool high schooler sounds cute and all they can not do this. I mean what the hell? This seems more like dragon ball i don’t wanna see Goku fight piccolo. I want an alliance. I want some friggin Vegeta for god sakes there is no Goku without Vegeta. I mean i would probably watch it no matter how crappy it was just to show my support of dragon ball z however i can not give this movie my blessing.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
No there is no Goku without Bardock. As for highschool that is a load of crap Goku was never in school. Maybe Gohan. And grandpa Gohan died before Goku could have ever been to high school. I know the plot of the movie is just not in line with anything from the anime but I am glad that we are going to have a movie. I just wish that they stayed as true as possible to the manga.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
dragon ball no americana,no banderas de amarica en the movie,no estatua de la libertad en the movie,dragon ball es ante todo japones
December 20th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’d rather see a live adaption of Macross or Space Battle Cruiser Yamato first. Disney bought the rights to Yamato over a decade ago and still hasn’t done anyhting with it. Either of these franchises as a live action movie would be better than frickin’ Dragon Ball.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:20 am
While I disagree with andrew that its a poor representation of anime(because the anime was once the most popular ever in japan and most asian countries aswell in the europe and the Americas.) I do think it will not be great. Especially if they are going to go for some modernization version of DB, I just dont know what to expect though I dont expect much from it.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 am
Btw most of you dont even know the difference between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Look it up.
December 25th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I’m a huge fan of all db/z/gt/Af and i just hope after all the information thats going around,if they do make a live action film that they choice to make it a Dragon ball z and not just Dragon ball.Anime is brilliant underground or mainstream and i think we need to wait this one out and pray its not just a Hollywood make money fast scam.Lets look at marvel,marvel are brilliant but they need to know when to stop making good comic book story lines into films that suck plus when they turn them into live action the big screen most of the time kills them off.I’m 21 years young and when i was a kid i loved nothing more on C.N.X or toonami than to watch dragon ball /z/gt and if they are going to give this the go ahead it would please me and all the fans of this truly awesome anime for 20th and James Wong to pull there fingers out and to get a huge budget (i know big budgets don’t always make for good films) a GOOD STRONG CAST and not kids from the likes of the OC and smallville and try and make this work.i think if this works this is a VERY BIG opportunity for them to capitalize on a big gap in the market to bring Anime to life on the big screen,something like this to please fans and bring in sales and hopefully joy for many films to come (IF IT WORKS) !!THANKS!!
December 27th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Hi everione, the DB movie is a good Idea, thre was several people around that like anime, and specially that kind of anime, beacuse DB is like the ancestor for all the nwe series that are right now like bleach, full metal alchemist, etc. Is true is a live action movie, and for the ones that think is a bad idea or even that is “crap”, just think about the special effects of Matrix, do you think that is not the same types of things that we gonna see in the DB movie, just think in this, instead of the agent Smith we will see piccolo and instead of Neo we gonna see a Goku.
December 28th, 2007 at 1:07 am
if he does it well then i wont complain but there is no doubt that everyone would rather see a dragonball z saga. with the coolest characters like goku, vageta, go-hon, the good piccollo, trunks and all seeing them getting stronger with super sayan action against cooler enemies like frieza and cell. i just hope that they dont stop with this movie and keeep making sequels. cut out the boring stuff and put in all the awsome stuff
December 28th, 2007 at 1:27 am
the titla had better not be ‘dragonball z’. because its not. its ‘dragonball’ and thats it. they have got a huge responsability to not make a crap movie because so many of us love the show and have such high expectations
January 1st, 2008 at 8:19 am
ky filem ahst shum i mir hahahahahahahaah.teper i mir
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 am
after thinking about it for ages, i think the fact that they are bringing this to life is as good as it gets for us dbz fans, hoping that this will be Z and not just dragonball. and all you alternative anime people, go away and hope for your own movie,
lets hope its not a straight to dvd special yeh,
January 7th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I think that Mr. Wong is not going to have it easy on Dragon Ball z. Just making dragon ball without the Z or the GT is a pretty hard task but hey, it`s hollywood, ain`t it? C`mon, matrix was good, reloaded was better. Revolution? oh men. What about Lord of the rings? I mean, the special effects are there but the problem is how they use `em or how much money they wanna spend on the effects. I just think that if they want to make this happen they have to spend a lot of money and they can´t deny it so Mr. wong, if you are going to make Dragon ball z movie happen, just make sure you use all the special effects there are and even those effects you have never used `cause the movie it`s gonna need it and we, dragon ball z, gt fans are expecting the best on this proyect. By the way, please don`t stop on Dragon Ball z. Keep going on GT, you know, Saiyans Transformations.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
And please don`t modify anything from the sagas. We don`t wanna see goku going to high school. We wanna see him fight, fly, throw powers with his hands and turn super saiyan 1,2,3 and if it`s possibble 4, and the moves, they gotta be quick just like if it was the animated sagas. C`mon, you gringos and Japones got all the technology to make Dragon Ball z the best movie at least on special effects, accion and drama. Make it win 19 Oscars. hehehe
January 7th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
hey sam. i agree with what you are saying. but you do relise that this isnt even a dragonball z movie. its a dragonball movie. hopefully they can make as many as possible to cover as much of the gigantic story line.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Does anyone here like ‘Guyver Biobooster Armour’? i don’t know when but ages ago there were two live action film made on it…. it totally ruined what was (in my opinion) a great Manga series. in short: it was like all the Power Rangers in one man.
I know film writing has come along way since then but i help but think this’ll be a flop. Wasn’t Goku a baby in Dragonball? That question alone makes me scared to think hardly any research has been made on the series.
I truly hope its gonna be good though…. please!! haha
January 10th, 2008 at 4:38 am
I love dbz ive prolly seen it all. Even the dumd ones like return of cooler that was so dumb. I dont think the actors they picked will do the dbz name justice and also I really wish they would get the name right. Their making DRAGON BALL NOT DRAGON BALL Z there is a big difference in the shows. I will watch it and give it a chance I just hope that it doesnt come out like the two mortal combat movies that really sucked.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
The budget for the film is $100 million I know this doesn’t mean much but it lets me know that the CG is going to be good.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Im a huge fan of DBZ. Im really nervous on how this will turnout.
But im gonna wait n c wat happens. I mean a lot of ppl thought that Transformers was gonna b junk….but look at it now!!! lol.
Best movie i ever seen. I hope that DBZ throws out a big hype jus as Transformers did. Good luck makers of the DBZ movie!!!!!!!\
Im counting on you guys….lol
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:44 am
So they’re going to be dumb enough to launch the movie off dragonball instead of dragonball z or even GT? Obviously some films studios don’t mind blowing there money by making something almost no one cared about. I think this is going to end up ruining what lil bit of faith i still have in someone making a good adaptation of a decent anime, good director, good anime, sorry script writers. Apologies now for hiring idiots to write about something they know nothing about. Next time ya’ll decide to make a movie based on a anime movie, let someone that knows about the subject to write the script and come up with the idea.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
i agreee with the december 18 th comment this movie should be more chinese like than being american
February 8th, 2008 at 10:39 am
THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD MICHAL BAY DO THIS MOVIE BECAUSE IF JAMES WONG DOES IT IT WILL BE GARBAGE\
February 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
i’M SORRY BUT I STILL THINK MIC
February 21st, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Yea.. this should at least be a good laugh if nothing else.
I really had my heart set on a NGE movie sometime before i croak though.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
what r u people talkin bout. alot of dragonballz fans dont think that the movie is going 2 be good. why call u fans then. u all r a big loud of cry babies. if u a fan then u should be behind dragonballz backs. i m and i will love dragonballz till the day i die andddddddddddddd till my soul will die (which will never happen). when u say u a fan and u love a thing then u dont suppost 2 go behind their back once they say they r going 2 make a movie out of it. u surpost 2 be excited bout it. so cheer up peoples and lets get each other back(im talkin bou the producers back). so producers keep on doin wat u do cuz i got yo backs
March 1st, 2008 at 1:12 am
To Andrew from above who wrote this.
“Uch. NO THANKS. DBZ is a terrible representation of Anime, Japanese culture, and anything good. ever.
In other words, Dragon Ball Z is trash. I expect nothing more for the film, too.”
I would not really call DBZ anime because it is way better then any of the anime BS that I have tried to watch. I mean are you serious. If you can watch those I do not see how in the hell you can say they are better and that DBZ is shitty.
Nobody ever said it had to represent anime or the Japanese culture. But if you have a culture like the Z fighters and their families do then I do not care if it is anything like any culture that we have on earth. The culture of the Z fighters is better and more heroic then any culture or anything that you will ever find.
So I leave you with this Andrew you are a moron before you post things like this watch every single episode and try doing it with heart you may learn something. This “show” is not about fighting, heroes, or the evils of the world, it is about the heart to want to keep going to save everyone, everyone that is close to you but yet far away as well. It is about never giving up and never losing hope and without a shadow of a doubt believing that you yourself and everyone can go beyond their limitations and do whatever it takes to keep everyone from falling.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
For some people who call themselves fans of the dragonball series:
If one day somebody writes a ‘dragonball’ novel in which Goku’s a relentless villian, Bulma’s a low life whore, Vegeta’s a drunkard, Piccolo’s a maniac, etc., and advertises it by calling it the ‘official dragonball novel’, what are you going to do? Buy lots and lots of copies and urge everyone to do the same, so that the author can write more novels of the same kind about dragonball?
Everyone who can think should know pretty well that the above scenario is exactly the kind of thing Hollywood is doing to the dragonball series.
Unfortunately, there are always some who get brainwashed by Hollywood into thinking that the dragonball series must have a Hollywood-made live action, and everyone must support it.
I could only hope some of those who think that way can try and learn from the Japanese. At least they are as outraged over the Hollywood movie as real dragonball fans should be over the novel in my scenario above, and are organizing boycotts against this live action.
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
i dont know if its gonna be crap or not, either way I’m deffinetly going to see it, all u people saying its crap will prolly go see it too. haters.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:52 am
It’s so stupid that they have put the Z in Dragon ball movie!! I soooo wanted to see who will act Vegeta. oh well… I hope for the best!!
April 15th, 2008 at 7:22 am
i am a big fan of db and dbz dbz gt and things we must thinks about is that this is dragonball guys remember there was’nt nothing to big here what am saying there was’nt no earth shaking, planets exploding nothing like that mostly its fighting styles and tehnigues but you had some moves like the kamahamaha, dodoa ray but those things should be greatly easy exspecialy with a 100 million dollar budget but they should have got great martial arts experts in filming to make this movie but still am going to be behind my dragon ball its the best anime ever not like this other crap of today. Dragon ball, Dragon ball z ANd Gt its about faith, love, happyness ,helping each other close and far and these are some of things that reflect”s my life. God Bless
April 18th, 2008 at 11:41 am
The comments surrounding this crap of a movie exactly reflects the importance of keeping the number of Hollywood worshippers low
May 25th, 2008 at 6:32 am
There’s no update of this anime??
May 31st, 2008 at 1:48 am
As a tibetan boy I really love DBZ and my highly affinity towards
Vegeta. After all it is a great fantansy and good story.
What if it real happen?
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
plz wong sir make this movie and shut all that basterds mouth make it good i want to see live dbz wow that will be great there fool dont knw the future tecnology can make anything love to see my favriot charter vigeta kicking ass of kakorot
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:34 am
Well i think that if they make a Dragon Ball Z Movie then it should be done with the whole saga of gokufighting raditz then dieing the piccolo trianing gohan well goku is trianing with king kai then he runs down the long snake thing thenas nappa kills piccolo goku comes and kicks his ass then goku fights vegeta and vegeta gets away and frieza comes with the ginyu force and goku kills them then he goes super saiyen and kills frieza then the andriods come and reek havec and cell sucks in andriod 18 and 19 or whatever then cell trys to get gohan pissed becouse the cell juniors are killing all his friends so he goes super sayien and almost kills cell but then cell trys to blow up the planet and everyone on it so goku takes him away and dies from the explosion but cell is still alive becouse as long as there is a single cell from him left then he can reform then gohan goes super saiyen two and theres an epic battle but gohan kicks cells ass and then its over.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 am
you i think that as long as its a good movie then im happy
hell im even happy if the make a Dragon Ball Z anime movie
as long as its good and as long as they dont try to make a a new dragon ball z story they should use the same story line.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 am
the way i see it he can ethier make something great or something stupid and you might as well give it a try and see what you get out of it becouse even if its great or not im going to see it becouse im curious and im sure every DBZ fan is to and i hope even if it does suck you better make a sequel and another and another until you have gone through the whole story line of everything that happened from season one to the final season becouse im sure every fan will pay for a ticket to see these movies becouse its what fans do……Think about it?
July 10th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
You know, real fans like the guys in Japan and the rest of Asia aren’t paying a cent for it. They’re just going to boycott this movie.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:14 am
yeah right what ever. there wouldnt be enough of you idiots to even make a small impact on how the movie does. the majotiy of fans in japan and asia will not care and just see it what ever way they can. and also if for some reason your little plan worked, they would not even consider making the next 2 movies which would include the saiyan and frieza sagas. think about it
July 19th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
@ Kracken
Are you talking about the boycott movement going on in Japan?
July 20th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
@ Trieur
Yes, just look up the Japanese words for “Dragonball” and “boycott”
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Akira intent the character Goku asian… that why he place asian trait.. i think alll they are doing is steal the dragonball fancahise and using it to sell there product… this is going to be another dragon ball GT failure…..it dragonball not dragonball z.. i hope they don’t have a sequel becuz this is not going to be a box office.