WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

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WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by Kid Buu » Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:14 am

New Sonic movie soon and apparently
,

Sure, Evolution didn't exactly break any records, but a lot has changed since then. I'm sure I'd like to see someone like Edgar Wright take a shot. What you say?
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by JulieYBM » Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:18 am

I'm not interested in any Hollywood filmmakers' take on Dragon Ball at this time. I'd love to see how Koichi Sakamoto handles a Dragon Ball film, though.

EDIT: I forgot about Hiro Koda (Cobra Kai). He might be able to pull something off.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by MasenkoHA » Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:50 pm

Kid Buu wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:14 am New Sonic movie soon and apparently
,

Sure, Evolution didn't exactly break any records, but a lot has changed since then. I'm sure I'd like to see someone like Edgar Wright take a shot. What you say?
Edgar Wright would be great visually though I would prefer a director with experience making kung fu movies.
JulieYBM wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:18 am I'm not interested in any Hollywood filmmakers' take on Dragon Ball at this time. I'd love to see how Koichi Sakamoto handles a Dragon Ball film, though.

EDIT: I forgot about Hiro Koda (Cobra Kai). He might be able to pull something off.
I'm not overly familiar with Koichi Sakamoto but isn't his main claim to fame directing the stunt scenes for the American fights in Power Rangers?

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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by FPSSJ4_Goku » Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:56 pm

I can only imagine the movie would end up looking like Jump Force, except it doesn't look strangely overly detailed
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by fleahop » Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:33 pm

Please no.

The genre doesn't adapt to film very well and even when it does, the Western world isn't ready for it/doesn't care to see it.

At most I could imagine a limited series that focuses on condensed versions of arcs. The guys that worked on Shang-Chi may be able to pull it off if they decided it was worth the money/time.

Most likely it would be another dark mark on the franchise though.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by MasenkoHA » Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:49 pm

fleahop wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:33 pm Please no.

The genre doesn't adapt to film very well and even when it does, the Western world isn't ready for it/doesn't care to see it.
The genre being martial arts films. Okay
The guys that worked on Shang-Chi may be able to pull it off if they decided it was worth the money/time.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by JulieYBM » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:02 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:50 pm
Kid Buu wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:14 am New Sonic movie soon and apparently
,

Sure, Evolution didn't exactly break any records, but a lot has changed since then. I'm sure I'd like to see someone like Edgar Wright take a shot. What you say?
Edgar Wright would be great visually though I would prefer a director with experience making kung fu movies.
JulieYBM wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:18 am I'm not interested in any Hollywood filmmakers' take on Dragon Ball at this time. I'd love to see how Koichi Sakamoto handles a Dragon Ball film, though.

EDIT: I forgot about Hiro Koda (Cobra Kai). He might be able to pull something off.
I'm not overly familiar with Koichi Sakamoto but isn't his main claim to fame directing the stunt scenes for the American fights in Power Rangers?
Sakamoto directed many of the American fight scenes for Power Rangers but in the 2010s he returned to Japan to work for Toei directly as a director for Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. He's been the main director for several series and directed several films, like the Kyouryuuger vs Go-Busters vs JuuRanger vs Abaranger film.

I believe several of Sakamoto's Power Rangers episodes are officially on YouTube. Check out Power Rangers: Wild Force "Forever Red". The fights are really well done for a series with zero production time. https://youtu.be/-cHadutGIRA
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by Robo4900 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:04 pm

I've been saying for a long time that there's no reason the right director couldn't do a good Dragon Ball movie. But it seems a lot of folks are still bitter about Evolution.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by M16U3L2015 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:05 pm

I hope not, DB is one of those works that doesn't translate well in Live-action, it barely does in CGI, plus I don't think they want to do something like that again after the failure of Evolution.

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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by mute_proxy » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:20 pm

It feels like people were programmed to think a certain way on this specific topic after Evolution, it's so common to hear the exact words "DB doesn't translate well in live action". Yes it does. Any animated franchise does with effort. It's a martial arts fantasy manga, nothing about it is beyond live action.

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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by JulieYBM » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:25 pm

Sailor Moon used a plush for its cat characters in its live action series. I don't see why DB needs something more expensive.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by Adamant » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:51 pm

JulieYBM wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:25 pm Sailor Moon used a plush for its cat characters in its live action series.
So did Dragon Ball
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by JulieYBM » Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:02 pm

Cheap, effective and quaint. Live action should do that more often.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by jjgp1112 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:05 pm

Like I say every time th is discussion cones up, some of yall need to watch...literally any action movie to come out in the last quarter century.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by Robo4900 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:08 pm

mute_proxy wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:20 pm It feels like people were programmed to think a certain way on this specific topic after Evolution, it's so common to hear the exact words "DB doesn't translate well in live action". Yes it does. Any animated franchise does with effort. It's a martial arts fantasy manga, nothing about it is beyond live action.
This is my sentiment exactly.

"It didn't work once, therefore it will never work!"

Star Trek TNG was pretty shit in its first season, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a truly terrible movie and then a pretty meh first season of TV before becoming the pop culture phenomenon it eventually became, hell at one point there was a prevailing attitude in the movie industry that, because a couple of female-led superhero films had been terrible and bombed at the box office, superhero films starring women were financially unviable (which is why Ike Perlmutter blocked any efforts for Marvel to make a Captain Marvel movie while he was in charge).

A lot of people tend to get stuck in this line of reasoning, but it really doesn't make any sense when you examine it for a moment. But no one is interested in examining it in this case, because everyone is so convinced that this is just how it is, and it's sort of formed an echo chamber of this opinion. "Oh, live action couldn't replicate the look!" "The effects just wouldn't be right!" "Anime movies are always bad!" etc.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by Lukmendes » Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:11 pm

I don't really think a movie format is that good for serialized stuff like DB, but it could work if passionate people who understand DB's spirit were put in charge, Evolution was bad, but it hardly means every Hollywood movie about DB has to be Evolution 2, or 3 or whatever.

So yeah, it could work, but I really doubt it would, 'cause Hollywood is overfilled with cowards and/or talentless hacks, and do generic stuff because it's what works, but again, just because there's a lot of bad doesn't mean a movie about DB can't work at all.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by OmegaRockman » Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:29 pm

I feel like anyone who thinks that DB CAN'T work in live action lacks imagination. I agree that DB doesn't NEED to be in live action, though. But if it got another chance? I'd give it a look, especially if they did something like Kung Fu Hustle or the incredibly underrated DB Runaways fan series.

Edit: not to say that Kung Fu Hustle or Runaways are in any way similar: KFH would be if they want to do something a little closer to the fun, goofy tone of the original while Runaways shows that a more grounded reimagining could also work well.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 3:43 pm

If someone picks this up who could do it justice, even if the aesthetic of its distinctive art style doesn't translate to a live action format then i'm sure it could turn out good. Compromises would certainly have to be made though that said in the right hands with people who care about the source material it COULD be done even if i'm personally not chomping at the bit for a LA Dragon Ball movie on the big screen. As to DB Evolution, yeah though that was more because the people behind it didn't really try to adapt the series so much as make a generic mid 2000's action movie that just happened to use the franchise name and character names but otherwise not really capturing the essence of the series at all.

Something along the lines of the two Attack on Titan films, or the 2010 Space Battleship Yamato movie. Those worked well as live action adaptations of anime so in the right hands Dragon Ball could be done to the level of those at least even if it can't carry over the same look and feeling as the manga/anime.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by JulieYBM » Sun Mar 27, 2022 5:12 pm

The special effects for the recent Star Trek programs has me curious how a Gundam series would look. I think that alone proves that it's possible to do a nice, high-quality CG-heavy live action series. I personally love how Rider and Sentai manage to do a lot of work in-camera and without a ton of CG. I think that mentality applied to a DB film or series would be really good, too.
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Re: WIth the success of the Sonic movie, is it time for Hollywood to revisit Dragon Ball?

Post by coola » Sun Mar 27, 2022 5:48 pm

Maybe live action TV series would be better idea? As long as Netflix won't do it (Cowboy Bebop, Death Note)
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