Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by KBABZ » Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:43 pm

jjgp1112 wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:35 pm I think barring a few revisions, the Piccolo Daimaou and Saiyan arcs are the easiest to adapt into a movie.

The Cell Saga? Good God, that would be a nightmare. You'd have to rewrite the entire arc
The opening arc would work as well if you removed Boss Rabbit for time. 21st, 22nd and 23rd TB would work fantastic as well. Red Ribbon is an extremely long story and would almost work better as a series of an hour and a half Disney + specials for each part (Colonel Silver, Muscle Tower, General Blue, Tao, Baba). Namek I would make its own movie of course and would work quite good as well. The Cell Arc would need to be a Part 1/Part 2 type of deal. Buu could work as well.

The problem is that if you were to adapt them arc-by-arc like that, you'd be AT LEAST five movies in before you got to the bit that's what most people think is the best part of the story. And let's face it, if this did happen and they started with Z, and it was a hit that fueled sequels upon sequels, they're FAR more likely to adapt Super's arcs before they ever got to OG-DB.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by jjgp1112 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:02 pm

KBABZ wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:43 pm
jjgp1112 wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:35 pm I think barring a few revisions, the Piccolo Daimaou and Saiyan arcs are the easiest to adapt into a movie.

The Cell Saga? Good God, that would be a nightmare. You'd have to rewrite the entire arc
The opening arc would work as well if you removed Boss Rabbit for time. 21st, 22nd and 23rd TB would work fantastic as well. Red Ribbon is an extremely long story and would almost work better as a series of an hour and a half Disney + specials for each part (Colonel Silver, Muscle Tower, General Blue, Tao, Baba). Namek I would make its own movie of course and would work quite good as well. The Cell Arc would need to be a Part 1/Part 2 type of deal. Buu could work as well.

The problem is that if you were to adapt them arc-by-arc like that, you'd be AT LEAST five movies in before you got to the bit that's what most people think is the best part of the story. And let's face it, if this did happen and they started with Z, and it was a hit that fueled sequels upon sequels, they're FAR more likely to adapt Super's arcs before they ever got to OG-DB.
The way I'd do it is combine the Pilaf and Red Ribbon arcs and make Commander Red a composite of his canon self and Pilaf. Make Black and Launch (Officer Yellow until we find out about her sneezing situation) His Shu and Mai assistants. Introduce Krillin here too possibly as a substitute for Oolong or Puar.

Then The Piccolo movie would start with the 22ND TB until Piccolos crew crashes it in the first round. Then a 23rd TB movie. So you get a trilogy for original DB to introduce everyone and presumably over a 6 year production timeline we can watch Kid Goku grow into a man.

I think if you knock the first movie out the park people will be more willing to wait for Z
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by WittyUsername » Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:15 pm

jjgp1112 wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:35 pm I think barring a few revisions, the Piccolo Daimaou and Saiyan arcs are the easiest to adapt into a movie.

The Cell Saga? Good God, that would be a nightmare. You'd have to rewrite the entire arc
I can’t even imagine what direction they would’ve gone in if DBE actually managed to be the first in a trilogy, like what was originally planned.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by MyVisionity » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:29 pm

I think it's okay to aim for eight or nine movies like Potter or whatever with a series like this. It's also okay to do films with plots and characters that carry over from one film into another. The Pilaf crew can return in sequels. Red Ribbon and Daimao can be two-parters etc.

I will say that it would be a big mistake to skip over chunks of the series in order to get to the most popular sections. I can understand this sort of thinking fifteen years back or so, but I would hope that Hollywood has gotten smarter and more considerate in the last few years.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by ABED » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:37 pm

It bugs me when they chop books in half when they adapt them.
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by WittyUsername » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:42 pm

ABED wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:37 pm It bugs me when they chop books in half when they adapt them.
That trend seemed to die with the Divergent series.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by ABED » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:44 pm

WittyUsername wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:42 pm
ABED wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:37 pm It bugs me when they chop books in half when they adapt them.
That trend seemed to die with the Divergent series.
Good. It bugs me going to the theater to see half a story. It's not like TV.
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by Hellspawn28 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:52 pm

I can see why people want Goku to be Asian since he is a gag version of Sun Wukong and Journey to the West is a story from China. With Vegeta, and Nappa, I can see a white person or a different person of color playing them. Planet Vegeta is probably diverse much like Earth with their culture.
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by KBABZ » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:55 pm

MyVisionity wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:29 pm I will say that it would be a big mistake to skip over chunks of the series in order to get to the most popular sections. I can understand this sort of thinking fifteen years back or so, but I would hope that Hollywood has gotten smarter and more considerate in the last few years.
Considering it's Disney of Black Panther and "Cast Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian" and "Bring in Timothy Zahn to introduce Thrawn back into canon" fame, I think there's a chance that it could be done properly from the actual start.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by WittyUsername » Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:10 am

ABED wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:44 pm
WittyUsername wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:42 pm
ABED wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:37 pm It bugs me when they chop books in half when they adapt them.
That trend seemed to die with the Divergent series.
Good. It bugs me going to the theater to see half a story. It's not like TV.
Actually, scratch that. I completely forgot that they split Stephen King’s It into two separate movies. Still, in that case, I think it was understandable, since the novel is well over 1,000 pages long.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by WittyUsername » Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:22 am

Hellspawn28 wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:52 pm I can see why people want Goku to be Asian since he is a gag version of Sun Wukong and Journey to the West is a story from China. With Vegeta, and Nappa, I can see a white person or a different person of color playing them. Planet Vegeta is probably diverse much like Earth with their culture.
Even though I seriously doubt that Disney will make a Dragon Ball film, I can safely say that if there ever is one, they would definitely cast an actor of Chinese descent to play Goku. It’d be the easiest way of ensuring that the movie would be a hit in China.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by funrush » Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:25 am

It'll be interesting to see if they start with Dragon Ball or Z.

On one hand, Dragon Ball would be easier to adapt since it's a lot simpler & you can adapt it as a straight action comedy. You can easily condense it into like 3 or 4 movies. First movie can be Search For the Dragon Balls & maybe Pilaf is affiliated with Red Ribbon or something so they fight the Red Ribbon in the last act. Second movie can be the 21st Budokai & you can throw Tien in there too & avoid having to do the 22nd. Third movie can be King Piccolo arc, Fourth the 23rd Budokai.

On the other hand, DBZ is the bigger property and studios might view it as potentially more profitable than starting with DB. You also have to consider franchise longevity, if they start with DB it's likely they won't make it to DBZ, and if they do it'll be really expensive. Not just because of CGI costs, but because getting the Goku/Krillin/Yamcha/Piccolo actors to stick around for like 8 movies will get progressively more and more expensive. RDJ was making stupid money near the end of his run as Iron Man & I wouldn't be surprised if he was killed off as a cost saving measure.

I also wonder if they'll be faithful as far as the pun names. I can see some bigwig exec not knowing what to think about the lead actress being named Bulma for example.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by miguelnuva1 » Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:26 am

Hellspawn28 wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:52 pm I can see why people want Goku to be Asian since he is a gag version of Sun Wukong and Journey to the West is a story from China. With Vegeta, and Nappa, I can see a white person or a different person of color playing them. Planet Vegeta is probably diverse much like Earth with their culture.
The Asian argument to me personally isn't that strong with Dragonball anyway as its not set in Japan. Character like Kuririn seem to be based on monks so you could argue he and other characters are Asian but others seem to be other races.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by MyVisionity » Tue Nov 19, 2019 1:50 am

funrush wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:25 am It'll be interesting to see if they start with Dragon Ball or Z.
I think that it would be pretty disrespectful to both the work and the audience if they started with Z. Even more insulting would be if they somehow started with Z and then tried to come back later and do DB. I doubt any of this would happen but it's still a gross thought.
miguelnuva1 wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:26 am The Asian argument to me personally isn't that strong with Dragonball anyway as its not set in Japan.
I'm not sure what the exact setting has to do with anything. That may be worse than the whole "Goku's an alien, not an Asian" thing. The series is clearly set within a world where East Asian culture permeates.

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by Grimlock » Tue Nov 19, 2019 2:10 am

All I would like (?) to see from a live-action movie is its beginning/flashback with the Bardock vs Freeza scene. A great CG, proper portrayal of the characters and a nice soundtrack could probably end up being really good (mixing both the TV Special and Dragon Ball Super: Broly versions, obviously). Wouldn't really care about the rest, unless they try to make a successful "DBCU".
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by mute_proxy » Tue Nov 19, 2019 3:49 am

I'd like it if it wasn't another "journey to self discovery" type adaptation. One of the things I didn't like in GITS and Alita, too much of "who am I?".

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by KBABZ » Tue Nov 19, 2019 4:20 am

mute_proxy wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 3:49 am I'd like it if it wasn't another "journey to self discovery" type adaptation. One of the things I didn't like in GITS and Alita, too much of "who am I?".
Yeah, and Alita has a really obvious answer: it doesn't matter, it's about who you feel you are NOW. I got rather annoyed that the movie didn't have Alita come to this realization (like Goku did as soon as Raditz revealed who he truly was).

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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by ABED » Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:06 am

WittyUsername wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:10 am
ABED wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:44 pm
WittyUsername wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:42 pm

That trend seemed to die with the Divergent series.
Good. It bugs me going to the theater to see half a story. It's not like TV.
Actually, scratch that. I completely forgot that they split Stephen King’s It into two separate movies. Still, in that case, I think it was understandable, since the novel is well over 1,000 pages long.
You can get away with it sometimes depending on the novel. I've only seen the 90's TV movie and from what I recall there were two climaxes. One where the kids confront Pennywise, and the second when they're adults.

I think you could turn the Freeza arc into two movies - one where the end is the fight against the Ginyu Force, and the second is all Freeza.
Last edited by ABED on Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by jjgp1112 » Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:09 am

miguelnuva1 wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:26 am
Hellspawn28 wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:52 pm I can see why people want Goku to be Asian since he is a gag version of Sun Wukong and Journey to the West is a story from China. With Vegeta, and Nappa, I can see a white person or a different person of color playing them. Planet Vegeta is probably diverse much like Earth with their culture.
The Asian argument to me personally isn't that strong with Dragonball anyway as its not set in Japan. Character like Kuririn seem to be based on monks so you could argue he and other characters are Asian but others seem to be other races.
Take one look at Yamcha, Roshi, Tien, Chiaotzu, Chi-Chi and Ox King and then try to tell me their characters aren't Asian.
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Re: Rumor: Disney Developing New Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie With Asian Cast

Post by ABED » Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:21 am

What I find interesting in this thread isn't the clearly BS rumor of Disney developing a DB movie, but more the issue of adaptation. What elements do you retain, etc.

For instance, I agree that the Cell arc would be very difficult to adapt in a satisfying way. That arc is very plot heavy with a lot of turns, not the least of which is the two pivots from who we think the main villains are. Do you make it two movies? Do you end part 1 with the Cyborgs defeating the heroes and flying off to kill Goku? In that case, it doesn't feel like a climax, but if the series is successful enough to get that deep, does it matter that the film doesn't really have a climax?
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