How far away are we from a "proper Hollywood treatment"?

[jjgp1112]

I've always thought the movies were a lot easier to pull off than people atc like, and the Marvel Movies are a testament to that. Just look at how fucking silly Guardians of the Galaxy is. Combined that with Kung-Fu comedy and Dragon Ball could work. Most people's ideas for a DB movie involve some grimdark DC movie bullshit, and they're all terrible.

Ultimately, you need a director and studio who are going to care. DB Evolution was a flop because nobody involved gave a crap. It wasn't a confirmation of a fundamental inability to pull off Dragon Ball.

[ABED]

They weren't terrible because they were dark and Marvel movies aren't good because they are lighter and funnier. Tone has nothing to do with it, and DB doesn't have a uniform tone.

[8000 Saiyan]

Yeah, tone doesn't matter for a movie as long as it's executed well, although I blame Nolan's Batman trilogy on making filmmakers believe that a darker, gritter and more realistic tone equals a better product. There are exceptions though. Take a look at Fantastic Four (2015). The Fantastic Four just don't work as dark and gritty and that film seemed like it was ashamed of its source material. People should never be ashamed of the source material they're working with.

[ABED]

It works in both directions. People seem to have a short memory. After a bunch of goofy and silly comic book movies, Nolan's movies started a trend (without his intention) of dark and gritty adaptations. Studios and even plenty of commenters thought that's what people wanted. After the MCU, the pendulum swung back to more humor. Now commenters are complaining about dark and gritty movies. I even recently read an article about Logan and how it proved fans want gritty and adult comic book movies. All of this shows people learn the wrong lessons. Deadpool's tone and rating works for Deadpool, the MCU's tone works for it, and dark and gritty works for Batman. Hell, a dark Superman film could work if it's the right story and the right storyteller at the helm. DB runs a range of tones. It can go from silly to grim and all feel like DB.

[8000 Saiyan]

It works in both directions. People seem to have a short memory. After a bunch of goofy and silly comic book movies, Nolan's movies started a trend (without his intention) of dark and gritty adaptations. Studios and even plenty of commenters thought that's what people wanted. After the MCU, the pendulum swung back to more humor. Now commenters are complaining about dark and gritty movies. I even recently read an article about Logan and how it proved fans want gritty and adult comic book movies. All of this shows people learn the wrong lessons. Deadpool's tone and rating works for Deadpool, the MCU's tone works for it, and dark and gritty works for Batman. Hell, a dark Superman film could work if it's the right story and the right storyteller at the helm. DB runs a range of tones. It can go from silly to grim and all feel like DB.

As long as Superman isn't bland and depressed in such a film, I'm in.

[Hellspawn28]

You don't need 200 million to make a live action DB movie. The Matrix Revolutions did DBZ type of fights with a budget of $110 million.

[Pluto]

There are a lot of things they'd need to do in order for it not to, among them are :

1- It needs a big budget : I honestly don't see any major studio offering anyone 200 or so million to work on an unproven franchise like this.

2- They need to be willing to have it as long as possible if the arc(s) demand it : like the above, I don't see this happening either cause the longer a movie is, the more it costs to make.

3- They need to get a director and actors who not only like the source material but also understand it : pigs will fly before this requirment is met. You'll have directors wanting to make "their" DB and actors who look and act nothing like the characters they're playing.

Nothing else, honestly. As i've said, only the hair style would lose its "canon"

Many movies were shifted to TV Shows (Flash, ffs even Chronicles of Sarah Connor), and there is enough space to tackle DB with 30 episodes, each an hour.
Seeing how Game of Thrones are doing, we deserve that much fun too.

[sintzu]

Only the hair style would lose its "canon"

Many movies were shifted to TV Shows (Flash, ffs even Chronicles of Sarah Connor), and there is enough space to tackle DB with 30 episodes, each an hour.
Seeing how Game of Thrones are doing, we deserve that much fun too.

The hair in DB is as iconic as a cape on Batman or spider-man having spider powers, if you take that away then you're taking a lot of what makes DB stand out.

I don't think DB could be handled well on a TV budget.

[floofychan333]

I would suggest putting us as fans in charge of making a Hollywood adaptation but we fight too much amongst ourselves so I imagine the movie would end up in development hell for 20 years and eventually the last fan standing would emerge from a battle of power level memorization.

[sintzu]

I would suggest putting us as fans in charge of making a Hollywood adaptation but we fight too much amongst ourselves so I imagine the movie would end up in development hell for 20 years and eventually the last fan standing would emerge from a battle of power level memorization.

God help everyone if I come out on top, I'd change the franchise into Vegeta Ball Z.

[ABED]

No. Fans should never be put in charge.

[Kid Buu]

No. Fans should never be put in charge.

Worked for Sonic Mania.

[ABED]

I have no idea what that is.

[8000 Saiyan]

I have no idea what that is.

A Sonic game.

[Zephyr]

I have no idea what that is.

Some passionate fan devs got brought on to make a new Sonic game. The result is essentially the most well made Sonic game since 1994.

[Hellspawn28]

I don't know why people want a live action movie to be like Marvel? Just because Marvel is doing it, I don't think Dragon Ball should do it. The series is not a superhero franchise.

[jjgp1112]

I don't know why people want a live action movie to be like Marvel? Just because Marvel is doing it, I don't think Dragon Ball should do it. The series is not a superhero franchise.

I can't speak for anybody else, but it's not that i want the movies to be like Marvel, but rather using Marvel as an example of how being faithful to the tone of the source material, no matter how weird, can work in Dragon Ball's favor. If a talking racoon and multi-colored aliens can work in that, it'll work in Dragon Ball no problem.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

I don't think Dragon Ball could work in live-action. However, I think a completely CG animated film could work.

As for how far away we are from a proper treatment? I feel like that decision will be made once big producers see just how popular the franchise is. Resurrection 'F's box office results were really good, but that was the result of a limited release.

Say if Toei made another animated Dragon Ball film and it actually got a world wide release where it's in theatres for a substantial amount of time and has a lot of marketing backing it up. If this film were to perform really well in the box office then I can definitely see producers wanting to give Dragon Ball a proper Hollywood treatment.

The problem with DragonBall Evolution was that it came out far too late and it barely resembled Dragon Ball. If the film came out in, say, 2003, and it actually resembled the source material then I have no doubt that it would have performed well in the box office.

Ghost in the Shell came to be because they had Scarlett Johansson playing the lead role. She's a very marketable actress as seen with films like Lucy. They probably had the script for Ghost in the Shell lying around somewhere and they figured "Hey! Lucy worked! Why don't we try the same thing but with a different script?" Then Ghost in the Shell became a thing.

I'm sure Dragon Ball will get another shot at a Hollywood adaptation, I just have no idea when. But Chris Pratt better play Goku.

[DragonBallFoodie]

I’m a little disappointed that a lot of people don’t want to see a live-action DB(Z). I can understand the sentiment, nobody wants to see another failure of an adaptation like Evolution turned out to be. But I think it can be done well, if people study the source material enough to work out what to adapt/leave out.

IF we were to get this, I'd start with the Saiyan arc and have Z's arcs as the main movies. DB's would come in-between each movie as prequels.

That's my thinking and preference too.

But the two main starting points - Goku meeting Bulma and questing for the Dragon Balls in DB, Goku learning of his alien heritage in Z - are equally good to use.

There are a lot of things they'd need to do in order for it not to, among them are :

1- It needs a big budget : I honestly don't see any major studio offering anyone 200 or so million to work on an unproven franchise like this.

2- They need to be willing to have it as long as possible if the arc(s) demand it : like the above, I don't see this happening either cause the longer a movie is, the more it costs to make.

3- They need to get a director and actors who not only like the source material but also understand it : pigs will fly before this requirement is met. You'll have directors wanting to make "their" DB and actors who look and act nothing like the characters they're playing.

No 2 depends on what arcs we’d like to see adapted.

But No 3 is a serious matter for sure.

To my mind, the most difficult part of adapting DB into live-action is the comedy element. DB is a fantasy action comedy, greatly influenced by kung-fu comedian Jackie Chan. People think mostly of the serious epic action, but what sets DB apart from normal shonen is its comedic approach.
- The heroes and villains have a certain level of goofiness and over-the-top attitude that makes them appealing, if rather unrealistic. Goku is an idiot hero, the Ginyu force do their poses, everybody keeps taunting their rivals when a competent fighter would just cut to the chase and finish them off, that sort of thing.
- Much of DB is clearly influenced from other features and spends a lot of time subverting the conventions of the shonen/action genre. To do this in a live-action film would make it look similar to a spoof film (Naked Gun, Shrek, etc). DB does have moments of originality that balance out the spoof moments, but still the spoof element is difficult to pull off.

I think that DB needs to be funny, for it to be DB. And comedy is a very difficult and delicate feat to manage.

I doubt any studio would risk a high budget for an action comedy, no matter how fantastic or epic it gets.

[coola]

Death Note was recently released by Netflix, and from what i heard, its failure. on the other hand, Castlevania is pretty good, movie adaptation could work, i persoanlly really liked Magic Begins