I think Disney will do the next Dragonball live action movie...

[lancerman]

Fair point, but the act of adapting a long running serialized story to film, even if they started at the very beginning, is going to require restructuring and losing a lot of material just by virtue of the amount screentime you have in film vs. TV.

Yeah I mean beyond just how to navigate through the initial arcs, how do you even structure it right?

Like okay first film can be the Dragon Ball Hunt (and nothing like the rest of the series)

Now do you do 3 separate tournament films? How do you structure the Red Ribbon Army? Do you do Path to Power and incorporate it with the Dragon Ball hunt? Then how do you do Korin? Do you drop things like Tao who were instrumental in setting the template for the series and then diminish the 2nd tournament? Do you legitimately just go a film an arc all the way to the Saiyans? What happens when you get past that? There's no way you can do the whole Freeza arc in one film. Same with Cell and Boo. The whole fight with Freeza from first form to last could be a movie.

[JulieYBM]

I don't want a live action film. I don't see the point in spending all that money for a medium that is inherently less expressive than the mediums the franchise already comes from. I also don't like the notion that live action somehow lends some sort of credibility to a work that has until this time already more than thoroughly spread across the nations of the planet and been a massive hit.

I also do not wish for Disney to acquire any wealth off of Dragon Ball, a franchise it has had no part in cultivating. If fans want Dragon Ball to become more popular then they should push to move it into the public domain, not line the pockets of a global monopoly.

[KBABZ]

Fair point, but the act of adapting a long running serialized story to film, even if they started at the very beginning, is going to require restructuring and losing a lot of material just by virtue of the amount screentime you have in film vs. TV.

Yeah I mean beyond just how to navigate through the initial arcs, how do you even structure it right?

Like okay first film can be the Dragon Ball Hunt (and nothing like the rest of the series)

Now do you do 3 separate tournament films? How do you structure the Red Ribbon Army? Do you do Path to Power and incorporate it with the Dragon Ball hunt? Then how do you do Korin? Do you drop things like Tao who were instrumental in setting the template for the series and then diminish the 2nd tournament? Do you legitimately just go a film an arc all the way to the Saiyans? What happens when you get past that? There's no way you can do the whole Freeza arc in one film. Same with Cell and Boo. The whole fight with Freeza from first form to last could be a movie.

Funnily enough Evolution tried a bunch of solutions, similar to Path to Power and Curse of the Blood Rubies. For example, one of the important aspects of the Tournament arc, Goku's training with Roshi and being taught fighting, was done on the road of the Dragon Ball hunt, which while executed poorly was a clever way to mix the two together.

[Hellspawn28]

Given how 99% of the movies based off of anime and manga have failed to be successful critically and commercially, I'm not sure Disney would be willing to dip its toe into that region. But you never know with Disney given how much money they have at their disposal.

EDIT: Just remembered that Edge Of Tomorrow was well received and made a decent amount of money. So it just goes to show you just need the right people involved in the project to make it work.

I think you mean movies from Hollywood based off of anime and manga have failed to be successful critically and commercially expect for Edge of Tomorrow? I can give you a list of live action movies based on anime and manga from Asia that are great.

20th Century Boys
Blue Spring
Lady Snowblood
Lone Wolf and Cube
Oldboy (2003)
Rurouni Kenshin (Not a big fan of Kenshin, but I do like the live action movies)
Space Battleship Yamato

There is probably more. I'm going off with the movies that I can list off hand at the moment.

[Lord Beerus]

Given how 99% of the movies based off of anime and manga have failed to be successful critically and commercially, I'm not sure Disney would be willing to dip its toe into that region. But you never know with Disney given how much money they have at their disposal.

EDIT: Just remembered that Edge Of Tomorrow was well received and made a decent amount of money. So it just goes to show you just need the right people involved in the project to make it work.

I think you mean movies from Hollywood based off of anime and manga have failed to be successful critically and commercially expect for Edge of Tomorrow? I can give you a list of live action movies based on anime and manga from Asia that are great.

20th Century Boys
Blue Spring
Lady Snowblood
Lone Wolf and Cube
Oldboy (2003)
Rurouni Kenshin (Not a big fan of Kenshin, but I do like the live action movies)
Space Battleship Yamato

There is probably more. I'm going off with the movies that I can list off hand at the moment.

While some of the movies you've listed have been mostly favorable among critics, none of them have turn out a profit at the Box Office which would be anywhere near enough for Disney to possibly consider throwing their hat into that ring.

[precita]

It's too bad Jackie Chan and Jet Li are so old now. If we had a live action film in the 90's, they would be cast as Goku and Vegeta respectively.

[Lord Beerus]

It's too bad Jackie Chan and Jet Li are so old now. If we had a live action film in the 90's, they would be cast as Goku and Vegeta respectively.

Funny enough, Toriyama once stated that he thought Jackie Chan would be the best suited to play a live action version of Goku.

[ABED]

I'm less concerned with the plot and the structure than I am the feel of the movie. Toriyama's voice is distinct.

[Robo4900]

Now do you do 3 separate tournament films?

Nah, you can probably just do one or two. Collapse the first two into one film at some point, and bill the Piccolo tournament as a sort of "Piccolo: Part 2"

How do you structure the Red Ribbon Army? Do you do Path to Power and incorporate it with the Dragon Ball hunt?

Not a bad idea. People expecting a more Z-type film would get some action parts that way.

Then how do you do Korin?

Don't have to. If he really must show up, you could just have Yajirobe find Goku beaten within an inch of his life in the Piccolo arc, then say something like "I know someone who might be able to help you.", and he takes him to Karin's tower, and brings him up there, where he meets Karin, and undergoes the training. This would not only mean that Karin wouldn't have to be in the Red Ribbon arc, but it would also solve one of the Piccolo arc's biggest flaws, which is the ultra-divine water being a total cop-out.

Do you drop things like Tao who were instrumental in setting the template for the series and then diminish the 2nd tournament?

I don't see why not. Again, collapsing the first two tournaments into one film is probably a good idea, and that would give you enough material that you wouldn't need the established villain of Tao in there; Tenshinhan is a pretty great antagonist to have going on, especially if you have Jackie Chun in there too, and ultimately kind of the whole point of any Dragon Ball movie that understands the property will be that they're primarily fun, so you don't really need Tao in there to make things more dark and serious. This will also make the opening of the Piccolo film all the more shocking when it happens.

Do you legitimately just go a film an arc all the way to the Saiyans?

Well, I'd say combine the Red Ribbon and Pilaf arcs, and the two tournament arcs. Then you get four really awesome movies before you've even reached Z: Pilaf + Red Ribbon, tournament, King Piccolo, then Piccolo Junior tournament. It'd be awesome. Then Z can probably be a film an arc until Boo.

What happens when you get past that? There's no way you can do the whole Freeza arc in one film. Same with Cell and Boo. The whole fight with Freeza from first form to last could be a movie.

Honestly, I think the Boo arc is the only one you'd have any trouble fitting in a movie. The Freeza fight would take up all of act 3 of the movie, don't be silly.

[lancerman]

Now do you do 3 separate tournament films?

Nah, you can probably just do one or two. Collapse the first two into one film at some point, and bill the Piccolo tournament as a sort of "Piccolo: Part 2"

How do you structure the Red Ribbon Army? Do you do Path to Power and incorporate it with the Dragon Ball hunt?

Not a bad idea. People expecting a more Z-type film would get some action parts that way.

Then how do you do Korin?

Don't have to. If he really must show up, you could just have Yajirobe find Goku beaten within an inch of his life in the Piccolo arc, then say something like "I know someone who might be able to help you.", and he takes him to Karin's tower, and brings him up there, where he meets Karin, and undergoes the training. This would not only mean that Karin wouldn't have to be in the Red Ribbon arc, but it would also solve one of the Piccolo arc's biggest flaws, which is the ultra-divine water being a total cop-out.

Do you drop things like Tao who were instrumental in setting the template for the series and then diminish the 2nd tournament?

I don't see why not. Again, collapsing the first two tournaments into one film is probably a good idea, and that would give you enough material that you wouldn't need the established villain of Tao in there; Tenshinhan is a pretty great antagonist to have going on, especially if you have Jackie Chun in there too, and ultimately kind of the whole point of any Dragon Ball movie that understands the property will be that they're primarily fun, so you don't really need Tao in there to make things more dark and serious. This will also make the opening of the Piccolo film all the more shocking when it happens.

Do you legitimately just go a film an arc all the way to the Saiyans?

Well, I'd say combine the Red Ribbon and Pilaf arcs, and the two tournament arcs. Then you get four really awesome movies before you've even reached Z: Pilaf + Red Ribbon, tournament, King Piccolo, then Piccolo Junior tournament. It'd be awesome. Then Z can probably be a film an arc until Boo.

What happens when you get past that? There's no way you can do the whole Freeza arc in one film. Same with Cell and Boo. The whole fight with Freeza from first form to last could be a movie.

Honestly, I think the Boo arc is the only one you'd have any trouble fitting in a movie. The Freeza fight would take up all of act 3 of the movie, don't be silly.

A lot of that's possible. Still it would dilute a lot of it for me. That said, no way in hell the Freeza arc and Cell arc are one film. The Freeza fight by itself needs to go through

-the actual 2nd form where Gohan/Kuriren/Vegeta team up to face him and the carnage
-Piccolo making the save
-3rd form reversing that and Vegeta bargaining with Dende to get a zenkai boost
-transformation to final form and him emasculating Vegeta before Goku comes in and he pleads for Goku to defeat Freeza
-the initial stages of the base Goku vs 50% Freeza fight where Goku gets trounced.
-The Genkai dama set up where Piccolo is stalling for time.
-The aftermath where the heroes have a brief reprieve and think they won before Freeza returns and kills Kuriren to enable Goku to transform
-The one sided stomping of Freeza.
-Freeza attempting to blow up the planet and then turn 100%
-Goku and Freeza fighting while people are making Dragonball wishes to return everyone back to life and get them off Namek,
-The last stage of the fight where Freeza gets cut in half and begs Goku for energy and then turns on him.
-Goku attempting to escape Namek.
-The aftermath where the story is being finished up with Dragon Ball wishes and the revelation that Goku is alive.

And that's just a very barebones outline of the fight. And that's just to do it right and make it worthwhile. And I don't care how much you water that fight down, how on Earth is anyone going to get all the characters to Namek, do a mini DragonBall search, get Goku to travel and train to become stronger, have him comeback and make the save, do all the crap with the Saiyan backstory to make it feel important, give the story time to breath and show off the new planet, build up how strong Freeza is... and then do that fight. I didn't even mention the Ginyu Force, Zarbon, or Dodoria. I didn't even talk about the Vegeta shenanigans.

That's just a basic skeleton to do the arc and the fight justice. You could strip a lot out, but at that point is it even worth making a film adaptation if you are rushing through arguably the most pivotal arcs in the series?

And the Android arc? Trunks showing up? 3 years of training? 19 and 20? 17 and 18 being awoken and them defeating the team? Piccolo fusing with Kami. The revelation of Cell? Training in the RoSaT. Cell absorbing the Androids on the Island? The multi phase Cell games conclusion? That's going to be very tough for one film.

[KBABZ]

Still it would dilute a lot of it for me.

Unfortunately that's an inevitability when adapting such a long-form story into a two and a half hour video that needs the right pacing, doesn't overwhelm the audience, and remains relatable. We've had four adaptations of Dragon Ball stories into that format, Evolution, Path to Power, Blood Rubies and Mystical Adventure, and all of them have had to dilute the story significantly in order to achieve a reasonable runtime. Even if you had a movie be four hours long you'd be skipping a lot of content, not to mention also driving away anyone who wasn't invested in Dragon Ball due to the length!

The only way to tell the story properly with all the beats in tact is via an episodic TV show that can cover two or three Chapters an episode, which we've had for a little while now.

[Robo4900]

-the actual 2nd form where Gohan/Kuriren/Vegeta team up to face him and the carnage
-Piccolo making the save
-3rd form reversing that and Vegeta bargaining with Dende to get a zenkai boost
-transformation to final form and him emasculating Vegeta before Goku comes in and he pleads for Goku to defeat Freeza
-the initial stages of the base Goku vs 50% Freeza fight where Goku gets trounced.
-The Genkai dama set up where Piccolo is stalling for time.
-The aftermath where the heroes have a brief reprieve and think they won before Freeza returns and kills Kuriren to enable Goku to transform
-The one sided stomping of Freeza.
-Freeza attempting to blow up the planet and then turn 100%
-Goku and Freeza fighting while people are making Dragonball wishes to return everyone back to life and get them off Namek,
-The last stage of the fight where Freeza gets cut in half and begs Goku for energy and then turns on him.
-Goku attempting to escape Namek.
-The aftermath where the story is being finished up with Dragon Ball wishes and the revelation that Goku is alive.

Sounds like a solid outline for the third act of a film.
Although I'd cut "-3rd form reversing that and Vegeta bargaining with Dende to get a zenkai boost".
Honestly, you could reorder some of this, put a few things in parallel that weren't in the main story, and end up with a much more streamlined thing...

-Freeza goes form 2, and curbstomps Gohan, Kuririn, and Vegeta.
-After only like a minute or two of this(Maybe less), Piccolo comes in, and smashes Freeza into the ground.
-Freeza gets serious, and goes to his final form, smashes Piccolo pretty much instantly, then toys with Vegeta for a couple of minutes.
-Goku appears, Vegeta dies, Goku and Freeza go at it for a little bit, but it's clear Freeza is stronger than Goku.
-Piccolo distracts Freeza for a minute or two while Goku charges the Genki Dama. While this is happening, Kaio realises the intensity of the fight means the planet may not survive, so he begins formulating the plan to make the wishes.
-Genki Dama seemingly destroys Freeza, but he's not dead. He kills Kuririn, Goku goes Super Saiyan.
-Goku and Freeza fight, and Goku's doing a little better than him, so Freeza threatens to destroy the planet.
-Kaio's plan goes into action, everyone comes to life.
-Goku's winning the fight, so Freeza actually does his thing to destroy the planet. He estimates he only has a few minutes to get off the planet before it explodes. Goku continues to curbstomp Freeza, preventing him from escaping.
-Kaio's plan proceeds to its final phase, as everyone is teleported to earth.
-Freeza is felled by his own energy disc, and Goku attempts to escape the dying Namek. Looks like he doesn't escape, though.
-Aftermath happens. Looks like Goku's still alive, but he might be a while.

Overall, this would probably take approximately 40 minutes. Assuming this would be a 2-hour film, that still leaves nearly an hour and a half; plenty of time for the shenanigans that lead up to this. Given how dense Namek may end up being though, there's no reason it can't be longer; 2 and a half hours is a pretty reasonable length. Latest Star Wars film was a little longer than that, even.

And the Android arc? Trunks showing up? 3 years of training? 19 and 20? 17 and 18 being awoken and them defeating the team? Piccolo fusing with Kami. The revelation of Cell? Training in the RoSaT. Cell absorbing the Androids on the Island? The multi phase Cell games conclusion? That's going to be very tough for one film.

Cell would be difficult, but I think it could be done.
Honestly, I really think Boo is the only one that would need to be two films.

[KBABZ]

I think the Android arc could be done if you introduced the Androids and Cell at the same time, and removed some of the things that occurred due to editorial influence, namely 19 & 20 and possibly Imperfect Cell. Rewrite it so that Cell only needs to absorb either of them to achieve Perfection. You could also have Trunks arrive and, instead of fighting 17 and 18, have him immediately investigate the origins of Cell (and make him arrive in a second and unique Time Machine to avoid putting half the audience into a confusion-induced coma for Kami's sake!).

[Robo4900]

I think the Android arc could be done if you introduced the Androids and Cell at the same time, and removed some of the things that occurred due to editorial influence, namely 19 & 20 and possibly Imperfect Cell. Rewrite it so that Cell only needs to absorb either of them to achieve Perfection. You could also have Trunks arrive and, instead of fighting 17 and 18, have him immediately investigate the origins of Cell (and make him arrive in a second and unique Time Machine to avoid putting half the audience into a confusion-induced coma for Kami's sake!).

That's not necessary. Just have 17 and 18 show up first, curbstomp the protagonists at first, then just when it looks like it's turning around, bring #16 in, confusing everyone except #17 and #18. With the cyborgs completely wrecking the team up, and Goku out of comission from his virus anyway, the team retreats, and figures out what went wrong. Then the call comes in about the same time machine as Trunks, but much older and worn out, eventually leading to Piccolo discovering Cell.

This streamlines the beginning into a much more digestible first act, then the second act would probably largely be people hiding and trying to not let Cell absorb the androids, which they inevitably fail at. Act 3 would, of course, be the Cell Games.

[Basaku]

It's not gonna happen for a long time. We're still yet to see what is Disney's approach to DB property at all (assuming they've actually aquired the DB theatrical rights via Fox purchase). The new movie will be a good test, if Disney co-produces it and flexes its worldwide marketing and distribution muscle in a big way, we'll know they have serious plans for the franchise.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

I would choose the Tao Pai Pai/ Crane School/ 22nd Budoukai arc without any of the RR stuff. You could begin and end most of Tenshinhans character arc, and the relatively grounded fighting means less potentially bad beam and cgi alien effects. And I think real life martial arts is the only cool thing live action could add to Dragonball. Some more detailed (real) sets maybe too.

[Jackalope89]

Dragon Ball: The Musical.

Somehow, I could see Disney giving it a go.