Super Hero (and Netflix's One Piece) is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Garo » Fri Aug 26, 2022 9:26 pm

Most anime live action movies don't work. It's too outlandish even more so than superhero movies but Dragon Ball Z could possibly work.

The hair would be the main problem. Maybe the talking animals but they could be cut. Gohan too he's 4 how would they get away with that?

Otherwise what's the issue?

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by WittyUsername » Fri Aug 26, 2022 9:44 pm

Garo wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 9:26 pm Most anime live action movies don't work. It's too outlandish even more so than superhero movies but Dragon Ball Z could possibly work.

The hair would be the main problem. Maybe the talking animals but they could be cut. Gohan too he's 4 how would they get away with that?

Otherwise what's the issue?
The hair wouldn’t need to be a perfect recreation of the manga. Spiky black hair would work well enough.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by ATA » Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:09 pm

I never understood the desire of having a live action DB franchise. We have 4.5 anime series(I'm counting Kai as .5), a promotional anime, and anime movies. What exactly would a live action DB movie do for the series besides an attempt to make money? I feel like DB have a lot of money coming from other streams of income. Multiple video games(plus DLC), toys, shirts, etc. Live action movie for DB would either be not worth it or a diaster waiting to happen.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by JulieYBM » Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:22 pm

I don't think live action is a more prestigious medium—I personally think the term 'prestigious' is silly—but a live action project would open the playing field to other creators creating a piece of Dragon Ball in their field of study. As my job is not to make the things I like more popular my only interest is in seeing talented creators create their own piece of Dragon Ball to the best of their ability. I would love to see any number of Toei's tokusatsu directors take a stab at a live action Dragon Ball or Hiro Koda, for example.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by WittyUsername » Sun Aug 28, 2022 10:33 pm

Super Hero is currently estimated to have a massive second weekend drop, despite the complete lack of competition. I’m not sure if that speaks very well to the prospects of a live action Dragon Ball film, or if it’s just the fact that it’s an anime film. It seems like anime films in general tend to be pretty front-loaded when it comes to North America.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by MasenkoHA » Sun Aug 28, 2022 10:40 pm

WittyUsername wrote: Sun Aug 28, 2022 10:33 pm Super Hero is currently estimated to have a massive second weekend drop, despite the complete lack of competition. I’m not sure if that speaks very well to the prospects of a live action Dragon Ball film, or if it’s just the fact that it’s an anime film. It seems like anime films in general tend to be pretty front-loaded when it comes to North America.
Was it stated how long it was gonna stick around in theaters?

I figured people knew it was a limited release so pretty much everyone who wanted to see it in theaters saw it in the first week.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by mecha3000 » Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:16 am

Okay, so it seems like many people are divided on this topic, but I'm still standing by my opinion. Dragon Ball needs a live-action movie as the next step in the franchise's history (I was going to say evolution, but yeah.....).

Side note: Look at this guy's opinion on Super Hero's success (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re_rQPSI0Xw). John Campea is the same guy who said years ago that Dragon Ball wouldn't be able to get a reboot based SOLELY off of Dragon Ball Evolution. I'm noticing a disturbing pattern here. MANY OF YOU GUYS THINK THE SAME WAY! Look, I get it. Anime have been screwed over in live-action. Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Dragon Ball Evolution, the list goes on. But comic book movies also took a while to get their footing. Ever heard of the '90s Captain America movie? So until we get a great DB live-action movie, DB fans are labeled "virgins" (by someone like Campea, who ironically likes Star Wars) simply because an animated DB movie did well at the box office. Hell, even Chris Stuckmann said Dragon Ball and anime as a whole is still widely underestimated by analysts and I think the animated medium is what turns people off of it. It's time for DB to move on to live-action.

So yes, in some ways, I do think a live-action Dragon Ball would legitimize the franchise more to a general audience. And I think it's time for something other than comic book movies to dominate the box office. Fingers crossed for great live-action Dragon Ball and Naruto adaptations in my lifetime.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Grimlock » Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:30 am

mecha3000 wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:16 amI think it's time for something other than comic book movies to dominate the box office.
So, uh... You want comic book movies to dominate the box office? Because that's what adapting manga would be. The only difference, I think, is that the movie's screenwriter "would have" to read the source material from right to left, instead of from left to right.

Anyway, as long as I get to see the characters from the movie interacting with the ones from the series eventually, I'm all for it.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Trouser » Wed Aug 31, 2022 3:07 am

Please, no. Dragon Ball is no Marvel, it's a very specific universe. There's no chance at adapting it right in the live-action movie.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Inkei9001 » Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:32 pm

Ew no. Fuck no. The casualization of marvel was bad enough. Don't let it hit dragon ball too. Why do zoomer weebs feel this creepy need for validation to have others like what they do? Old weebs didn't have that. Where did they go wrong.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:36 pm

Inkei9001 wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:32 pm . Why do zoomer weebs feel this creepy need for validation to have others like what they do? Old weebs didn't have that. Where did they go wrong.
This phenomenon is way more a millenial thing than a zoomer thing, but okay.

And I say this as someone who is a millenial.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by JulieYBM » Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:44 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:36 pm
Inkei9001 wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 1:32 pm . Why do zoomer weebs feel this creepy need for validation to have others like what they do? Old weebs didn't have that. Where did they go wrong.
This phenomenon is way more a millenial thing than a zoomer thing, but okay.

And I say this as someone who is a millenial.
I am co-signing my name on this. My Zoomer friends have never given a shit about this sort of thing. Meanwhile my generation has been seeking validation from people who will never like them my entire life.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Hero 004 » Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:05 pm

I certainly agree Dragon Ball is fertile ground for a live action adaptation. So many of the marvel and dc films have showcased they have the tools in the toolbox. And then things like The Matrix and Kill Bill already fill the "Live action dragon ball" hole for me personally. And I agree Super Hero is an example of why - because it was a fast-based, feel good adventure showcasing the best parts of Dragon Ball. But the key thing for me was that it showcased all that while still being a contained adventure that was more about its style and the characters than the lore. That sequence of Piccolo flying down from Kami's place with the music kicking in was cinematic and lovely; those kinds of moments would translate great to live action. It felt like an auteur-driven narrative from Toriyama. I think they need to avoid doing a kitchen sink approach where they try to get every dragon ball image we love into 2 hours. Evolution did a kitchen sink approach, but they didn't even know what sink they were throwing and it looked like the bathroom sink by the end with the lack of anything recognizable from the source material.

The big question obviously is which era to adapt. I think the pre-Z stuff is not the right idea imo. Unless they did it as a heart warming fantasy series that could tell that coming of age thing, go into the world of the Martial arts schools, and retain the comedy.

Picking a saga and set of characters and sticking to them for at least one movie but probably a whole trilogy would be the right idea.

My two big ideas for a structure have always been:

Vegetta, Nappa, Raditz, all at once invade in the opening, Goku dies, and they go straight to Namek. Gohan is the main character here. It's his coming of age, his Harry Potter quest, his grappling with a legacy and being separated from his father. As the war plays out on Namek for the rest of the first half of the movie, Goku is in otherworld, not doing anything other than traveling snake way, and giving us flashbacks to him as a kid training with Roshi and meeting Krillin, to flesh out his character and pathos. Flashback to King Piccolo the demon to show how cool of a twist it is that he is now training Gohan. Then he is resurrected right back there on namek for the final act of the first movie to go SS and defeat Frieza.

Then an "Androids War" movie beginning with the Arrival of Trunks. Still focusing on Gohan, Goku sick with a heart virus most of the movie until the Cell Games in the final act. Goku's absences and side-quests were annoying to some in the anime/manga, but they could be really effective for character development in a contained movie. Sacrificing Goku and letting Gohan be the main would be a really good choice.

I think the Buu saga is not at all ripe for adaptation. It could work as a disaster movie of sorts I suppose, but the images and pacing are so strange I don't think it could hit with a mainstream audience.

They could also just go Game of Thrones and try to adapt it all as a long-form series. Or do a big "Resurrection F" type movie that does the kitchen sink thing. But I think choosing the Saiyans/Namek and Trunks/The Androids as the two focuses will keep things sufficiently sci-fi without confusing things with too much fantasy. Toriyama blends them perfectly but I would have low confidence in a filmmaker to combine his aesthetic choices and genres in an effective way.

Good news is Disney has all of Fox's assets now and Fox was holding onto it for so long before Evolution, clearly never wanting to make it until it felt like they had to to keep the rights. I don't love how big Disney's umbrella is now, but it allows plenty of time and resources to develop something good if they want to; and a green light is more possible at the same time with the seemingly unlimited capital and platforms to throw it to.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Kaboom » Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:42 pm

Good and even great live-action anime movies are certainly possible, and there's nothing about Dragon Ball that makes it somehow incompatible or unsuited for adaptation. Hell, it's based on old kung-fu movies to begin with. So the right template and style has already been there for decades, and modern-day special effects clearly wouldn't have any issue cranking the scale of the action up to DB levels. It just needs to have the right creative team behind it. People who care about preserving the spirit of the original material, if not all the details.

Nothing says it has to be about "validation," either. Sometimes, if not most of the time, people just like seeing fiction they already enjoy be brought to life in new and interesting ways. I don't keep going back to see Spider-Man movies because I don't think all the Spidey comics, cartoons, and games I already have at my disposal somehow aren't "enough," I keep going back to see them because I like getting to see the character shine in ways that those other mediums don't capture. It's no different with Dragon Ball and its own characters and stories.

As for which stories a DB film or series of films would ideally adapt... I've always favored a straightforward Piccolo-Saiyans-Namek trilogy. I think that Evolution had the right idea, in the broadest of broad strokes anyway, for a good "first movie" formula. A world-establishing story centered around a hunt/race for the Dragon Balls, with Piccolo as the villain. The second movie is then about the Saiyan invasion and revealing Goku's origins. The third and final movie then of course takes everyone to Namek to clash with Freeza and his forces. There's a lot of gaps to fill in (and I have even more ideas of how to fill them), but I believe that particular trio of sequential story arcs would be best suited to movie adaptations, and could most effectively tell "Goku's story" in the process.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Mac » Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:18 pm

I'll pass. Live-action anime films are never going to compare to their animated comparison. I can't imagine it going over well with the fans after the first attempt either.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by JulieYBM » Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:38 pm

There are plenty of good live action adaptions of Japanese comics/cartoons but they're all produced in Japan, so I suppose not everyone would be aware of them. I was personally quite taken with the quality of the BLEACH film's live action film. I also thought that the Tennis no Ouji-sama film was good. I haven't seen it since I was a sixteen year old girl but I remember the tennis matches being a ton of fun.

Even among Hollywood director Hiro Koda has proven to be good at handling complex, decently-shot martial arts scenes on a tight schedule. If Koda can shoot this fight in just two days with actors who have little martial arts training thing of what he could do with an actual production schedule.

Like, it's possible. Just because Dragon Ball Evolution sucked it doesn't mean you can't do better. Hell, it definitely means you can do better, in fact.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by Anonymous Friend » Thu Sep 01, 2022 2:53 pm

I've always felt that anything was possible with Live Action Dragonball. Just because it's been fumbled before doesn't mean someone couldn't do it right.


On it coming up high on the charts, I actually assumed it was going to have a premium ticket price just like most other anime movies released. Even 20 year old one like Myazaki films. I checked my local theaters and was super surpised to see it had normal prices. Otherwise, with a group going, I was just going to wait for it to show up on streaming services, hopefully one that I already subbed to. But I'm not apposed to rented like I did with the Broly movie.

Also, this Saturday, at least in the US, is Movie theater day and most venues are having $3 ticket prices all day. I'm planning on seeing Dragonball and probably Top Gun and Bullet Train.
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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by OmegaAlphaDelta123 » Wed Sep 07, 2022 12:49 am

I’m not necessarily against the idea in theory, but your reasoning for wanting this is stupid.

What I’m getting from this post is “I want everyone around the world to be interested in the things I am, even if it sacrifices that thing’s identity.”

First of all, as stated by dbzraza beforehand. You saying DBS Super Hero beat Beast is proof that Dragon Ball DOESN’T need a live action movie to achieve mainstream success. The idea that we HAVE to make a live-action Dragon Ball to have the franchise become bigger just reminds of of how Disney churns out mediocre live-action remakes with no soul because they know it’ll sell.
mecha3000 wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:16 am So until we get a great DB live-action movie, DB fans are labeled "virgins" (by someone like Campea, who ironically likes Star Wars) simply because an animated DB movie did well at the box office.
And? Who actually gives a fuck if we’re called virgins by some obscure YouTuber who 90% of us are never going to see? Again, it just seems like the reason you made this post is because you’re insecure about how the outside world and you want it to become mainstream (Make no mistake, it already is.) just so you can feel validated, which is never a good reason to make a movie.
mecha3000 wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:16 am So yes, in some ways, I do think a live-action Dragon Ball would legitimize the franchise more to a general audience. And I think it's time for something other than comic book movies to dominate the box office. Fingers crossed for great live-action Dragon Ball and Naruto adaptations in my lifetime.
Again, sure, if those things happen, I won’t be upset, but my ego is strong enough to the point that I don’t feel this weird need to have the general public like whatever I consume or ‘beat’ another franchise.

Also, you say its time for something other than comic books to dominate the box office, so you suggest replacing them with… Japanese comic books? For what reason? This seems pretty arbitrary.

TLDR: Not opposed to the idea in theory, but it should happen because people are passionate about making it, not so a bunch of insecure weeaboos can gain validation from having their franchise become mainstream or whatever.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by dva_raza » Wed Sep 07, 2022 3:23 pm

Anonymous Friend wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 2:53 pm I've always felt that anything was possible with Live Action Dragonball. Just because it's been fumbled before doesn't mean someone couldn't do it right.

Nobody said it can't be done. Just that it doesn't need to be lol.

But no, 'anything' is certainly not possible with Live Action Dragonball.
-How about the hairstyles? Trademark DB aesthetics. You want some weird ass fake CGI? Or just humans with human hair? That wouldn't feel like DB so what's the point?
-Flying looks like crap in live action, always.
-The humor. This series isn't just fighting you know? There's something about anime comedy that only works in animation and will be absolutely lost in a live adaptation...or just be outright cringe.

JulieYBM wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:38 pm I was personally quite taken with the quality of the BLEACH film's live action film. I also thought that the Tennis no Ouji-sama film was good.
Even among Hollywood director Hiro Koda has proven to be good at handling complex, decently-shot martial arts scenes on a tight schedule. If Koda can shoot this fight in just two days with actors who have little martial arts training thing of what he could do with an actual production schedule.

Just watched those links. Wow, they really reinforced how much DB doesn't need to be made live action lol.
No idea why anyone would want a DB fight to be downgraded like that.

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Re: Super Hero is proof it's time for a live-action DB movie franchise

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Sep 07, 2022 3:33 pm

dva_raza wrote: Wed Sep 07, 2022 3:23 pm
-Flying looks like crap in live action, always.
.
I more or less agreed with everything you said or just didn't care to have an opinion one way or the other but this one just baffled me.

Seriously what?

I can't.
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