Dragon Ball Cinematic Universe, my thoughts

[Cabel]

I've long thought about how to make Dragon Ball work on the big screen. And after seeing the success of Marvel's cinematic universe and other studios trying to do the same, I started thinking about how Dragon Ball could be expanded. A series of films that not only adapt the core story of the manga, but also incorporate story elements from the various films, specials, and video games into a larger whole. I'm already trying to write the first film. Some of these film ideas are more thought out than others, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.


1.  Dragon Ball:  The Journey

Goku is living his life on his own when he runs into Bulma, or more accurately she runs into him.  He joins her search for the dragon balls, along the way encountering characters like Roshi, Oolong, ,Yamcha, and Puar.  As their quest gets in the way of Pilaf's own search for the dragon balls, he devises a plan to make our heroes come to him. 

Goku and Bulma's journey brings them to Fry Pan mountain, where the Ox King enlists Goku to help Chi Chi find Master Roshi to put out the fire.  While on Roshi's island, they are met with the unexpected arrival of Krillin, who's seeking to train under Roshi so that he may compete in an upcoming tournament where in addition to a cash prize, the winner will receive a dragon ball.  Ultimately Roshi agrees to train Goku and Krillin as they make way towards the tournament and by this point, the final dragon ball.

As it turns out, the tournament is hosted by none other than Pilaf.  It is in fact an elaborate distraction so that Pilaf can search those who came for the tournament, believing that at least one of them will have the other dragon balls.  As Goku advances through the tournament, he takes notice of another contestant named Jackie Chun, who is of course Roshi in disguise.  Chun and Goku face off in the finals, and despite a hard fought battle, Goku loses, but is inspired to train harder than ever.  At the same time, Pilaf finds and steals Bulma's dragon balls.  He has all except for Goku's four star ball, which he has kept close at all times.

The gang learns of the theft.  They go to inform Pilaf.  Here Pilaf learns about the dragon radar and Goku's ball.  When the gang grows suspicious, Pilaf captures them and steals the final ball.  The rest plays out like the manga.  Pilaf summons the Dragon, Oolong screws up the wish and gets captured.  Goku sees the moon, transforms, wrecks shit, and Pilaf escapes in the chaos.  The gang manages to cut off Goku's tail and he transforms.  The next morning, Bulma and Yamcha get together, Krillin chooses to stay with Roshi, and Goku decides to look for his grandfathers ball.  They say their goodbyes, and Goku flies off to the next adventure.

2.  Dragon Ball:  The Red Ribbon Rebellion

Haven't figured out the entirety of this yet, but I will that the Red Ribbon saga(duh), the Tenshinhan saga, and the first two DB movies are the ingredients I'm planning to put into the blender of mind if and when I get to this point.

3.  Dragon Ball:  Strongest Under the Heavens

Piccolo and Piccolo jr. arcs.  I'm also considering incorporating elements of the Fortuneteller Baba saga here as well.

4.  Dragon Ball Legends: The Namek

The Namekian traveler crashes on Earth.  He awakens with no memory of his name or where he came from.  He walks the Earth in search of an identity which over time evolves into a more spiritual journey for enlightenment.  His journey leads him to seek the counsel of the current Kami.  He also encounters Garlic, who seeks to usurp Kami.  After Garlic is banished, the Namekian is offered to succeed Kami, but he is hesitant after seeing powers potential to corrupt in Garlic, so he seeks to purge the evil within himself.  Resulting in the split of Kami and Picccolo.  The film ultimately ends with Piccolo's imprisonment, Kami's ascension, and the creation of the dragon balls.

5.  Dragon Ball:  The Saiyan Secret

I think this one's self explanatory.

6.  Dragon Ball Legends:  Planet Vegeta

The Bardock special expanded to included storylines with Frieza, his family, King Vegeta, his family, Paragus, and Broly.

7.  Dragon Ball:  Fear of Freeza (working title)

Also self explanatory.

8.  Dragon Ball Legends:  The History of Trunks

Like the title suggests, only expanded to begin as if this were the direct sequel to Fear of Freeza.  Freeza arrives on Earth, but Goku teleports in to stop him in time.  An "Up" like montage follows of the next three years going well, only to turn south with Goku falling ill and dying.  Androids 17 and 18 arrive, kill everyone, and wreak havoc.  Gohan and Trunks fight as well as they can, but Gohan eventually falls.  Trunks continues fighting, despite the alternative his mother keeps working on.  Trunks gets beaten to near death, forcing him to admit that he's not strong enough and agree to his Mother's plan to travel back in time and change history.  Leading directly into...

9.  Dragon Ball: The Mysterious Youth

Starts out kind of similar to "History," except now Trunks arrive to stop Freeza.  You can probably figure out the rest from there.

10. Dragon Ball Legends:  Androids

Focusing on Krillin and 18. Krillin copes with the loss of his best friend and the girl he can't stop thinking. 18, seperated from her family and her humanity, tries to figure out where her life is headed. 17's impulsiveness leads him to another of Dr. Gero's strongholds, where he finds the remaining andriods, 15,14, and 13.

Meanwhile, we also get flashbacks to a young brother and sister leaving home and falling into the clutches of the mad doctor.

11. Dragon Ball: The Malice of Majin (working title)

And one more for self explanatory.

12. Dragon Ball Legends:  Mr. Satan

In a similar vein to the Muppet movie, Mr. Satan invites everyone to the premiere of a movie based on his life, showing his rise to the top of the martial arts world, with some "creative liberties."

13. Dragon Ball Legends:  The Great Saiyaman

14. Dragon Ball Legends: History of Trunks Part 2

Future Trunks forms the Time Patrol.

15. Jacob the Galactic Patrolman

16. Dragon Ball: Power of Legend

Combination of the Broly Films and Yo! Son Goku and his friends return.

[Lord Beerus]

It certainly sounds like a good concept of paper. But would a Dragon Ball Z movie do well if it go wide release in cinemas?

[Cabel]

That question could be applied to almost every movie that comes out. And there are so many factors that could play into a films success. Budget, advertising, word of mouth, the talent attached to the film, etc.

Under the right circumstances, yes I think a Dragon Ball film could do well. But it's not a question I realy want to occupy this thread with.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

First and foremost, I would not watch a film about Galactic Patrolman Jacob.

Anyway, are these supposed to be in release order? If so, I feel like 1-5 are pretty good, but I feel like 6 should be merged into 5. The planet Vegeta material, while I'm sure it could sustain a full movie to itself if expanded, I question whether it should. The Saiyan Arc alone is Raditz shows up, training, and fight with Nappa & Vegeta. Just seems to me that the film may be better served with some of the Bardock material being added into that narrative. Likewise, the final bardock confrontation and the King Vegeta stuff could be added into 6 and the Broli stuff added into what you've coined as "16". Just thoughts...

8 and 9... I'd probably change the concepts. Start 8 off with Trunks standing in front of cyborg Freeza up till the miscalculation line prior to transforming. Flash the title card and move into Trunks narrating the History of Trunks material. Have him go through it and explain what he's going to do in the past (save Goku the medicine, give them a chance to train, learn how to defeat the robots that have terrorized his world). Once he takes off in the time machine, switch back to Trunks standing before Freeza and transforming. Once he takes care of business, he can look up to see Goku's pod entering earth's atmosphere. Cut to the credits there, don't bother showing the actual conversation between them. Sure, we miss out on Trunks vs Goku, but I think it would work better as a lead into the the next film. Then for 9, maybe focus only on the robots for the very beginning since we saw them last movie, and then quickly shift to Cell as the "twist".

10, I'm not really sure that needs to exist. I mean, I'd be interested in something similar as a manga or anime special, but as an actual film...can't say it would really grab my interest.

11 would seemingly be fine, but I'm not sure the rest are cinematic endeavors as described? Jaco is certainly a lovable character for me, but unless he was utilized elsewhere in the movies and became really popular, I'm not sure I'd see him carrying a whole film on his own. My suggestions for everything after 11:

12. Dragon Ball Legends: Legend of Legend
Kind of keep the Mr. Satan movie thing and have him want to show a premier that get interrupted by the JSAT/Broli combo. The public can thing it's all a publicity stunt and it can give Mark an idea for the sequel...

13. Dragon Ball Legends: God of Destruction
Beerus and Whis are too good of additions to the franchise to not be used. Keep the basic premise of Battle of Gods, but make it a bit more actiony so it can sustain itself as a "proper" film. I love the movie as an animated DB feature, but it just wouldn't work as a direct adaptation in the MCU type of vein.

14. Dragon Ball Legends: Temporal Crisis
Utilize a version of Demigra. Have Mira serve as his muscle and Towa as his pawn,then basically do to the DBCU what Xenoverse did to the regular franchise. Threaten to distort and destroy everything blah blah.

[Bullza]

It's a good idea though not realistic at all. A movie franchise is lucky if it can hit 3 films let alone 16. Also a lot of people wouldn't really be interested in most of these films, I doubt even most fans would care to see a Mr Satan or Jaco film.

Then you'd have to consider how much time would pass in between the making of these films and how much the actors would age and if they'd even want to do that many films.

I think a film based on

1. Dragon Ball
2. The Saiyan Saga
3. The Frieza Saga
4. The Cell Saga
5. The Buu saga

Would be best. Of course if it was really popular than a History of Trunks spinoff movie could work too.

[Cabel]

I appreciate the feedback TheDevilscorpse, I'll try to address/clarify as much as I can.

Beyond the first three, the titles aren't listed in any definitive order of release.

This isn't a complete list. One of my goals behind this concept to expand on events or characters that may have been underutilized in the manga/anime and give them almost equal reverence to everything else. That's why I dedicated an entire movie to the final days of planet Vegeta. Not just to tell that story, but to also set the stage for future movies.

For example, the events that I've considered for "Planet Vegeta" tie in to multiple films in this universe:

1. Jaco, which chronologically takes place directly after this film.
2. A potential solo film for Vegeta, showing his adventure before coming to Earth.
3. Tarble and Broli survive the Planets destruction, setting up "Power of Legend"
4. Bardock dies with the planet, or survives via time travel and follows th DBonline story and becomes an antagonist in the "History of Trunks" series.

To accurately list all the possible spinoffs/prequels/side stories I've thought off would require me to draw an elaborate chart.

I didn't list anything with Beerus because I haven't decided how to approach him yet. I wanted to avoid making straight up remakes of the animated films or specials.

Also, any films that feature Goku as the primary character is given "Dragon Ball" title. Films that focus on other characters go under the "Dragon Ball Legends" banner.

[BlackCatScott]

Well thought out but I think any future Dragon Ball adaptation will be lucky to get a trilogy, never mind 16 films. So I really think they'd have to hit the ground running. Touch on Dragon Ball, but pretty quickly move onto DBZ.

I don't know about anybody else but personally I think Piccolo is a good starting point, as far as villains go.

[cpuguy18]

It certainly sounds like a good concept of paper. But would a Dragon Ball Z movie do well if it go wide release in cinemas?

It would be the next billion dollar film with the right budget, director, actors and script.

[One_Instance]

To be honest, I've always wanted to do this as well, but characters like Oolong, Shu, Pilaf, etc. make me feel like the movies just wouldn't work. I don't know, it just seems weird to have a talking pig along side normal human characters. I hope that doesn't discourage you, those are just my two cents.

[BlackCatScott]

To be honest, I've always wanted to do this as well, but characters like Oolong, Shu, Pilaf, etc. make me feel like the movies just wouldn't work. I don't know, it just seems weird to have a talking pig along side normal human characters. I hope that doesn't discourage you, those are just my two cents.

I'd love to plan out a movie universe like this with my own thoughts if I get some spare time. I agree with you though, while I LOVE that aspect of Dragon Ball, as far as adapting to live action goes, it wouldn't work in my opinion.

[SSJ Human]

I honestly think the best way to go would be to do three films based on the early to mid part of Z. You can appeal to everyone that way since that's probably the highest regarded part of the franchise and most popular. Film 1 would be the Saiyan Saga. I would outright make the main characters Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin and Vegeta. Obviously the other characters would still be in there, but have most of the film revolve around them and their interactions with other characters.

Film 2 would be Frieza Saga. You'd have much of the same. Only thing I would change from the original version would be to give Piccolo an extended role by having him be shown doing more on King Kai's planet and showing his concern for Gohan the entire time, which will harken back to their connection as shown in the first film. End the movie with the fight between Goku and Frieza and make that around 20 to 30 minutes long since the anime fight was too damn long in the first place.

Film 3 would be the Android Saga. Forget a Trunks spinoff film, incorporate TV special into flashbacks which show essential parts of the story. Would help if he were invested in the present-timeline Gohan as well, showing more concern for him than others. The main five would still be the most prominent with Trunks being the sixth ranger. Cell would probably have to be CGI to be convincing. I doubt somebody in paint could appear grotesque and intimidating.

If you wanted another three films, my recommendation would be a fourth film taking place in the seven year gap with Broly as the villain and the Z-Fighters overcoming him together. The fifth film would be Bojack and I would have Gohan do it by himself. Sixth film would be Buu saga.

[Cabel]

To be honest, I've always wanted to do this as well, but characters like Oolong, Shu, Pilaf, etc. make me feel like the movies just wouldn't work. I don't know, it just seems weird to have a talking pig along side normal human characters. I hope that doesn't discourage you, those are just my two cents.

I think audiences are willing to suspend their disbelief provided that you establish the rules of your world early and stay consistent to them. Guardians of the Galaxy had humans walking alongside red people, yellow people, blue people, green people, different creatures and talking raccoon.


Personally, one of the ways I like viewing the world of Dragon Ball (at least the earlier parts) is that it'd be what you'd get if Jim Henson and Frank Oz took the creativity that they used on films like the Dark Crystal and decided instead to make a Shaw Brothers-esque martial arts fantasy. That's part of how I can justify seeing the different creatures and people of the DB world.

[One_Instance]

To be honest, I've always wanted to do this as well, but characters like Oolong, Shu, Pilaf, etc. make me feel like the movies just wouldn't work. I don't know, it just seems weird to have a talking pig along side normal human characters. I hope that doesn't discourage you, those are just my two cents.

I think audiences are willing to suspend their disbelief provided that you establish the rules of your world early and stay consistent to them. Guardians of the Galaxy had humans walking alongside red people, yellow people, blue people, green people, different creatures and talking raccoon.

You're right, I'd forgotten about Guardians. I personally didn't enjoy that film to much, but still the majority of people loved it. Maybe that wouldn't be such a big issue after all.