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

[JulieYBM]

Movie corporations demand too much money and US wages have been stagnant since the 1970s. It's no wonder movie theaters get told to fuck off.

[ABED]

Streaming and HDTV's are a big part of the reason ticket prices are going up. Less people felt inclined to go to the movies and to make up for fewer tickets sold, theaters raised prices. I'd also be willing to bet that the seemingly ever increasing budgets of big movies is driving up prices

It's a shame more people don't read critics and value what they do. Their jobs aren't just to say a film is good or bad.

[omegacwa]

Streaming and HDTV's are a big part of the reason ticket prices are going up. Less people felt inclined to go to the movies and to make up for fewer tickets sold, theaters raised prices. I'd also be willing to bet that the seemingly ever increasing budgets of big movies is driving up prices

It's a shame more people don't read critics and value what they do. Their jobs aren't just to say a film is good or bad.

An average blockbuster film nowadays costs upwards of 200 million to make. The movie companies are not going to make a profit selling the tickets for $3.

Another issue is less return visits. Back when only a handful of movies came out a year people would often go see them multiple times, especially before home video was a thing, and even when I was a kid movies would sometimes stay in the theater for a year and VHS release would be after that.

Over saturation of the market
multiple ways to see high quality content
inflation of prices
inflation of costs
annoying movie goers

All of these are factors.

With RT I feel like there are some movies that would have done better if that site didn't exist. If a movie gets a 50% it's considered rotten even though there's a 50/50 chance you might like it. People don't see it that way. People see a 50% and think F, as in failure.

I'm not saying it's the end all be all but I'm sure it's a contributing factor.

[ABED]

Titanic would not have had that insane 15 week run at #1 these days. Release windows are much shorter, which if you wanna know a big reason why big budget movies are generally not very good, there's your culprit. Movies used to be able to rely on word of mouth to get around but since films are basically designed to make a ton of money in the first few weeks of release, there's not much incentive to invest in films that take time to find their audience.

Streaming doesn't have to fight for real estate, so that's why you find more niche programming.

Given how well many of these films do even with bad scores or review bombing (ugh), I don't think the site doesn't have much sway over people. It would be interesting to see a study or an article on RT's effect. It bothers me that home video are using that as a selling point.

I would be interested to see what the reaction would be of a live action DB movie cast a Caucasian lady as Bulma. I mean a high profile film, not DBE where no one cared and it wasn't on anyone's radar.

[omegacwa]

Titanic would not have had that insane 15 week run at #1 these days. Release windows are much shorter, which if you wanna know a big reason why big budget movies are generally not very good, there's your culprit. Movies used to be able to rely on word of mouth to get around but since films are basically designed to make a ton of money in the first few weeks of release, there's not much incentive to invest in films that take time to find their audience.

Streaming doesn't have to fight for real estate, so that's why you find more niche programming.

Given how well many of these films do even with bad scores or review bombing (ugh), I don't think the site doesn't have much sway over people. It would be interesting to see a study or an article on RT's effect. It bothers me that home video are using that as a selling point.

I would be interested to see what the reaction would be of a live action DB movie cast a Caucasian lady as Bulma. I mean a high profile film, not DBE where no one cared and it wasn't on anyone's radar.

I don't know if people would mind Bulma being Caucasian. Based off her design and character it's not out of the realm of possibility that she's "supposed to be Caucasian". I think a couple other characters you could get away with casting a Caucasian actor as well.

To me Vegeta is so obviously supposed to be Japanese that any other casting would be bizarre.

[ABED]

Titanic would not have had that insane 15 week run at #1 these days. Release windows are much shorter, which if you wanna know a big reason why big budget movies are generally not very good, there's your culprit. Movies used to be able to rely on word of mouth to get around but since films are basically designed to make a ton of money in the first few weeks of release, there's not much incentive to invest in films that take time to find their audience.

Streaming doesn't have to fight for real estate, so that's why you find more niche programming.

Given how well many of these films do even with bad scores or review bombing (ugh), I don't think the site doesn't have much sway over people. It would be interesting to see a study or an article on RT's effect. It bothers me that home video are using that as a selling point.

I would be interested to see what the reaction would be of a live action DB movie cast a Caucasian lady as Bulma. I mean a high profile film, not DBE where no one cared and it wasn't on anyone's radar.

I don't know if people would mind Bulma being Caucasian. Based off her design and character it's not out of the realm of possibility that she's "supposed to be Caucasian". I think a couple other characters you could get away with casting a Caucasian actor as well.

To me Vegeta is so obviously supposed to be Japanese that any other casting would be bizarre.

And while I would hope that was the case, very often there's little room for a nuanced opinion on the internet, seemingly.

[MasenkoHA]

Bulma has a fondness for guns and even had a rifle in her room. Not only is she caucasian. She’s American.

[Robo4900]

I imagine the hotness of this take will depend on the individual reader, but here's my take on casting:

As long as you have a reasonably diverse cast overall, it doesn't really matter so much about the race of an individual character, as long as the actor chosen for each role fits really well.
Like... By all means, cast Bulma black, Goku Indian... Why not, y'know? If the given actor gives a good, convincing, natural performance, they're a good choice for the role.
I think it makes sense to aim for the main initial cast to be Asian (Goku, Bulma, Yamcha), but long as it still has the flavour of an Asian kung-fu story, I don't think there would be any problems with the cast overall being quite diverse. I mean... Just look at the show's cast in the animated version; we've got a green alien/half-ex-god/reformed half-ex-demon, a guy with three eyes, the two last surviving Saiyans of which one is essentially a left-behind who grew up adopted by a single father and the other was essentially the heir to the throne of a barbaric, evil society that he grew out of the horrendous ways of; we have a city girl, a scholar born to the greatest warrior who ever lived...
Dragon Ball's always been the kind of franchise that has people of a diverse background, even if Toriyama tended to draw them all vaguely white/asian. So, I think a live-action interpretation would not only do well to be diverse for the usual reasons, but also because all the characters always were from a diverse set of backgrounds.

Personally, I think James Earl Jones could have made a pretty fantastic Lord Piccolo (and Kami) in his somewhat younger days (I think now, it'd be too physically demanding; perhaps they could get him to voice Shen Long, though).
I think Lakeith Stanfield could make a really interesting Vegeta.
I think William Shatner could make a really fun Kaio.

But y'know what, if Disney end up doing a live-action Dragon Ball, I think there are enough really good directors, casting people, etc. who they'd have available to call on that they'd be able to assemble a really great cast full of unexpected & unknown choices, it'd probably be reasonably diverse, and it'd probably be a pretty kickass movie.

[omegacwa]

Asian male leading men in Hollywood are basically nonexistent right now. I think it would be best to leave Goku and Vegeta at the very least as Asian.

[miguelnuva1]

Thought I'd add more fuel to the fire.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wegotthisc ... movie/amp/

If true I like him for Goku.

Now link to a credible source.

There no credible source because this whole thing isn't credible yet.

[miguelnuva1]

Asian male leading men in Hollywood are basically nonexistent right now. I think it would be best to leave Goku and Vegeta at the very least as Asian.

Considering how small the saiyan numbers are Vegeta and Goku should be the same race.

[WittyUsername]

Asian male leading men in Hollywood are basically nonexistent right now. I think it would be best to leave Goku and Vegeta at the very least as Asian.

Asian leads in Hollywood movies actually seem to be gaining traction, though a lot of that seems to have to do with China. There’s even going to be a Marvel movie starring an Asian man in early 2021.

[MasenkoHA]

Asian male leading men in Hollywood are basically nonexistent right now. I think it would be best to leave Goku and Vegeta at the very least as Asian.

Asian leads in Hollywood movies actually seem to be gaining traction

Such as?

[WittyUsername]

Asian male leading men in Hollywood are basically nonexistent right now. I think it would be best to leave Goku and Vegeta at the very least as Asian.

Asian leads in Hollywood movies actually seem to be gaining traction

Such as?

I already provided an example with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is a Marvel movie that’s set to be released in early 2021. Beyond that, there was also Crazy Rich Asians last year and there’s also the upcoming Mulan movie. As I said, the reason for this seems to have more to do with the growing prominence of the Chinese market than anything else, but it does suggest to me that if Disney were to make a live-action Dragon Ball film, they’d probably get a Chinese actor to play Goku.

[Anonymous Friend]

First, I look forward to any attempt to take a favorite thing of mine to the big screen. Disney is at the top of my, and many other's, lists of companies to do Dragonball any sort of justice. WB has proven they can do similarly with LotRs and Harry Potter. And both of these would be willing to spend the money needed.

Second, as for story, the series can definitely start with the begininng of Z. We don't need loads of explaining who these people are. Saiyan and Namek sagas don't really relate to anything in OG DB. As long as the characters and story are written competently, it's good. Plus, no 2 -2.5 hour film will ever cover everything nerds want it to. Heck, DBZA seems to be enough to let you care able it's characters without having a DBA.

Personally, I would love for it to start at DB with a merging of Pilaf and RRA plots as multiple factions chasing the dragonballs. Introduce, Krillin, Ten, and Chaotzu give them some things to do for a few minutes and move on. Sort of like how Marvel was able to introduce a number of Black Panther related stuff in Civil War really well, even giving PB a decent arc, as well as Wanda/Vision. Next movie can have a tournement. Start with it to get the main players back together. The tourney is not the main focus and can get rapped up within the first twenty to thirty minutes. Krillin's death moves the plot forward with King Piccolo and him offspring causing havok. Goku/Goku and crew trains with Korin. Culminates with Goku v KP after the mufabu fails. third movie in Trilogy is Goku getting invites to train with Kami and Popo and final tourney with Ma Junior. End on Marriage to Chichi.

Sure I glossed over a lot, like Goku training with Roshi. That can either be training between films or training in first film like DBE but better., or even training after tourney. Goku's training, while a huge part of his character, doesn't need to be focused on so much as he's already pretty strong anyways. He's a natural fighter and picks up stuff super fast. when He's fighting normal humans, he breezes past them with ease. The Piccolos are a whole different story and require the training with the deities. The Roshi training was mostly strength training anyways, do we really need Rocky-style montages?

For Z, I'd break it down to Saiyans, Namek, Andriod, then Cell.

(Had a section here about condensing the saiyan arc but forgot about the face-heel turn for Piccolo and using the og crew for some stuff, I also had an idea about dropping Raditz and making Vegeta Goku's brother instead, but that leaned in more with where the series kind of became much later on.)

Really don't want seven total movies (I do but, you know what I mean. That's a lot. Saiyans, Namek, and All Andriod stuff might work. Saiyan arc has the least amount of story but it a lot of great character stuff with Gohan and Piccolo and the last real time the human fighters meant anything. Goku dies and trains in the afterlife while everyone else prepares. Namek drops Dodoria and Zarbon in favor of Ginyu, as they're the better characters and their introduction just felt like a minion reset in the anime. Like someone posted earlier, no multi-transformations for Freeza. Base form, then final. Keep Freeza from fighting but constantly have the group sense something more underneath. On the Android arc, problem is Trunk's introduction is dope as fuck, and Cell alone is worth about 3/4 of a movie. That's a whole movie right now. So, we have two movies, and the difficult thing is ending the first half. Where do we do this? It feel like we would have half of the Cell movie be the Cell Games.

I didn't even mean to type all that out. I thought about what a good live action movie would entail and how it would be broken down. Thing is, not many wants OG as Z is what their familiar with, but OG has the better story oppurtunities for serious film makers.

When it comes to casting, just because it's a japanese production, doesn't mean it needs an asian cast. But because of the socila landscape we currently live in, it can't be helped. I can get behind an asian Goku with him being based on a chinese monkey. Bulma being western will probably mean black or latina. Krillin's a monk, so asian, unless that's dropped from his character as it was mostly from the series. Pervy Roshi should definitely be asian. Yamcha and Ten can be caucasian. Raditz needs to be whatever Goku is. Vegeta and Nappa can be whatever if the saiyans aren't just on race.

[Anonymous Friend]

Asian leads in Hollywood movies actually seem to be gaining traction

Such as?

I already provided an example with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is a Marvel movie that’s set to be released in early 2021. Beyond that, there was also Crazy Rich Asians last year and there’s also the upcoming Mulan movie. As I said, the reason for this seems to have more to do with the growing prominence of the Chinese market than anything else, but it does suggest to me that if Disney were to make a live-action Dragon Ball film, they’d probably get a Chinese actor to play Goku.

Everyone wants that China money, especially Disney. But How do you do a Mulan movie without asians? Or a movie called "Crazy Rich Asians"? I don't even think the makers of that one expected it to be as successful as it was. And that was probably due to word of mouth. Most analysts may tell you differently based on actual stats and numbers, but most don't care what the leads are as long as the movie looks interesting.

[ABED]

First, I look forward to any attempt to take a favorite thing of mine to the big screen. Disney is at the top of my, and many other's, lists of companies to do Dragonball any sort of justice. WB has proven they can do similarly with LotRs and Harry Potter. And both of these would be willing to spend the money needed.

Second, as for story, the series can definitely start with the begininng of Z. We don't need loads of explaining who these people are. Saiyan and Namek sagas don't really relate to anything in OG DB. As long as the characters and story are written competently, it's good. Plus, no 2 -2.5 hour film will ever cover everything nerds want it to. Heck, DBZA seems to be enough to let you care able it's characters without having a DBA.

Abridged is NOT dragon ball it's a parody show. You don't care about the characters because it's not that sort of show. It's not a retelling, it's a parody. It presumes you've already seen the series.

And a big part of the Saiyan arc is Piccolo's journey which most of it is predicated on being the former demon king.

Why does this stuff have to be explained over and over? DBZ is not the place to start.

[Draconic]

"Saiyan saga doesn't relate to anything in OG Dragon Ball" except, you know, the main character who you've followed being revealed as a father and as an alien, finding out he is the one responsible for killing his adoptive father, teaming up with his mortal evil rival, who ends up training the son out of necessity and eventually warming up to him; the main character DYING; all the previously established protagonists training with God, who's also revealed to be an alien, then also DYING... including the evil mortal rival, causing God to die also and the titular Dragon Balls turning to stone... leading into the Namek arc which is all based on finding other Dragon Balls to ressurect all those characters you won't give a shit about because they have no screentime.

Seriously, the Saiyan arc is great, probably the best in all the series, but every single thing that makes it good is a beat that doesn't land unless you have the history to set it up. And it leads directly into the Namek arc. So... yeah, you need to do Dragon Ball first. Unless, of course, you change the story so much to the point there's no point.

[miguelnuva1]

https://youtu.be/sfHb66_Wc2c

Take out the mcu and this could be a good plot for a dragonball film.

[MasenkoHA]

Asian leads in Hollywood movies actually seem to be gaining traction

Such as?

I already provided an example with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is a Marvel movie that’s set to be released in early 2021. Beyond that, there was also Crazy Rich Asians last year and there’s also the upcoming Mulan movie. As I said, the reason for this seems to have more to do with the growing prominence of the Chinese market than anything else, but it does suggest to me that if Disney were to make a live-action Dragon Ball film, they’d probably get a Chinese actor to play Goku.

Wow 3 movies, two of which haven’t come out yet. And of the two one is part of a larger franchise that has mostly been white dominated since 2008 and the other is part of a slew of soulless live action remakes.


I wouldn’t exactly call that gaining traction.