Would a great live-action Dragon Ball movie do a Billion?
- Thread starter rrc1594
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A live-action Dragonball movie would suck. But even if it didn't, a billion dollars at the box office is not even remotely close to possible.
You'd think, given the success of comic book movies and the still huge appeal of DBZ. But somehow live action anime adaptations are always cursed. Either they're cinematic train wrecks or box office bombs.
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I think anything can be great with the right people behind it.
This Dragon Ball could work as a live action movie with CG sidekicks.
DBZ and Super, not so much.
This Dragon Ball could work as a live action movie with CG sidekicks.
DBZ and Super, not so much.
People would not pay to see a live-action Kid Goku movie with CGI Oolong.
Dragon Ball is known by enough people in the general public to generate interest. If it's a great, highly enjoyable movie that people love, it can easily make a billion. Hell, Guardians of the Galaxy made 3/4 of a billion worldwide, and those characters were unknown to the general public before the movie.
In my opinion, live action dragonball would have to start with...dragonball. Build up to the craziness that is Z with establishing the rules of the universe in the more basic hero's journey arch that Dragonball gives you. Maybe a trilogy of DB films that handle the introduction to the world/world martial arts tourney, then red ribbon army, then king piccolo to end it off with.
But you have to have the opening scene in movie one be a prologue that has frieza destroy the Saiyan homeworld with baby Goku jetting off at the last possible second. That would be a great hook :)
But yeah, im amazed at how well Broly is doing in theaters and it might be a great time for Hollywood to try this franchise again.
But you have to have the opening scene in movie one be a prologue that has frieza destroy the Saiyan homeworld with baby Goku jetting off at the last possible second. That would be a great hook :)
But yeah, im amazed at how well Broly is doing in theaters and it might be a great time for Hollywood to try this franchise again.
This Dragon Ball could work as a live action movie with CG sidekicks.
DBZ and Super, not so much.
General audiences want to see DBZ/Super, not Dragon Ball.
No. Not yet at least.
Even with modern CG and tech advancements, it's the one franchise that will never not be a trainwreck when translated to live action unless it's done a very, very, VERY specific way.
It's better to test the waters for decent anime adaptations with a more easily adaptable property like, uh...almost anything else.
Even with modern CG and tech advancements, it's the one franchise that will never not be a trainwreck when translated to live action unless it's done a very, very, VERY specific way.
It's better to test the waters for decent anime adaptations with a more easily adaptable property like, uh...almost anything else.
If it were possible to do well, I could see it be a 7 movie series: Z being first (Saiyan/Frieza/Cell), DB as a prequel trilogy, then end it with a Buu saga movie to allow the actors to age 7 years or whatever.
Its just so fucking hard to translate Manga/Anime to the real world. Dragonball Z especially when you consider the amount of CG and make-up that would be required.
You would be better off doing a full length high quality animated movie like they just did with Broly.
You would be better off doing a full length high quality animated movie like they just did with Broly.
No ...
It's a manga/anime. It thrives best in it's current medium.
It's a manga/anime. It thrives best in it's current medium.
But what would it improve? Making it live action.
Stephen Chow in his prime could play a good Goku, but his English is so-so, and he already play Journey to the West in his prime.
Yup. He was brought on pretty early in the process because he was a "big fan".
His producer role was super small. He was asked to direct and he declined for some reason.
You CAN do a good live action Dragon Ball... but no movie production company will because it won't sell. You'd need to actually use a bunch of kids, you'd have to use far more practical effects/stunts versus CG, etc etc... all stuff Hollywood has no interest in.
As soon as you go live-action, you remove Toriyama's style from the equation. I don't know that there's a scenario where that would result in a good film. Or a film that people would recognize as a legit Dragon Ball adaptation.
So I would say the answer is a firm no.
So I would say the answer is a firm no.
For a live action Dragon Ball movie to be good, the only live action parts would be the human characters. Every other character, and every environment, and every effect would have to be CG. At that point, might as well just do an animated movie.
Come to think about it, you could just rip off how Star Wars handles their creature-people and environments.
Live action DB can't work. The character designs are too anime for them to translate into real people without looking stupid. Superheroes work because the human characters still look like normal people for the most part. The character designs of Goku and friends are too iconic to change enough to suit a live action version, so it would just not end up capturing the feel of DB anyways. Super musclebound dudes with freaky hair would look too dumb for mainstream audiences, at least as the protagonists.
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I can't ever see a live action Dragon Ball Z series working well without it coming across as derivative.
i dont think you can do a live action dragon ball that is faithful and not have it be more dorky than cool if you have to be SUPER faithful. The second anybody tries to come out in those outfits with bad hair styles, nobody takes it seriously.
If they gave it to a comptent director and good marketing I don't see why not.
If Aquaman can bill up, anything can.
There is no way to do characters like Goku and Vegeta in live action. The visual style doesn't translate.
I will save this thread for when there is a high budget Evangelion live action movie and everyone is "Of course Dragon Ball made 1.2 billion dollars at the box office, everyone knows Goku, it was just a matter of time! But Eva won't make even 50 million dollars WW"
EVA would be a way easier show to adapt into a live-action movie than Dragonball.
It would do a billion easy if it had the right budget, direction, and writing. The problem is condensing such a long story line into two hours. A lot of the filler is what makes dragonball dragonball.
It would take a real thought out trilogy to work. The fight scenes would be the easy part.
https://youtu.be/WH1R768WMfg this fight was fun to watch and super low budget.
It would take a real thought out trilogy to work. The fight scenes would be the easy part.
https://youtu.be/WH1R768WMfg this fight was fun to watch and super low budget.
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No.
Wow, that was easy.
If anything could, anything would.
But it doesn't.
Wow, that was easy.
If anything could, anything would.
But it doesn't.
