CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Reported at ANN.

The Hollywood Reporter newspaper reports that Twentieth Century Fox has officially signed director James Wong (Final Destination, X-Files television series, The One) and casted Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds, The Invisible, Taken miniseries) in the lead role of Goku for the movie adaptation of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball action manga, now scheduled for a August 15, 2008 worldwide premiere. According to the Variety newspaper, James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Spike, Smallville's Braniac) will play the antagonist Piccolo when shooting begins later this month, and Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer) is producing the project.

Wong will not only direct the film, but he also rewrote the first draft of the script that was submitted by Ben Ramsey (The Big Hit). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story centers around the alien Goku as an adult as he protects Earth — the very planet he was sent to destroy. Chatwin is training under the stunt firm 87Eleven (The Matrix, The Bourne Supremacy, 300). Other roles are still being casted.

[color="Red"]
[font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

I'm scared for this Was never a DBZ fangirl, but I'm worried to know what it might look like :/ Yeah I know I know Transformers turned out great, but this involves live-action fluffy haired men shooting energy from their hands...

ha ha ha! if stephen chow's producing the movie, then we have nothing to worry about!! just kidding! XD but it'll be interesting to see how this movie turns out...i can't wait for a trailer.

And lets not forget that Speed Racer movie is also coming. YAY!! :banned:

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

...OH WOW. XDD

It's insulting to the fandom, but still. SPIKE AS PICCOLO? *giggles* My poor Pikkoro-san...

As for Justin though, I'm not sure what to say. He's a pretty cute kid and didn't seem terrible in War of the Worlds. I really don't know how he can handle being goofy and innocent though (then again, we don't know if Goku even will be goofy and innocent in this production).

XD Oh goodness, I can't wait for this. As much as I love DBZ, I also love making fun of it, so if it's terrible I'll still probably end up liking it.

I can say at least one thing.

It's guaranteed that this movie will make over nine thousand dollars.




XD Definitely going to see it.

[color="Red"](ZOMG XDDDDD Corrie.)

(Anyways... Oh my. I'm going to be in Hong Kong when this airs, but it says worldwide, so maybe I'll catch it. I'm not a DBZ fan at all, but live action adaptions always prove to be at least interesting.)[/color]

Radical Dreamer wrote:It's guaranteed that this movie will make over nine thousand dollars.

XD HA!

Man, now I'm imagining how they might change the characters to match more cookie-cutter ideas about male protagonists.

*envisions silent, angsty Goku*

"You Prince Vegetable? Whut 'SUP?!!!"

I saw the title and rolled my eyes, but since you reported it, I guess it is actually happening (or at least starting). Since this is apparently real (and I'll go see it despite cynicism), I will just hope that this will be a movie with good choreography and a half-decent plot. Hopefully if they approach it from a traditional film perspective instead of that of Japanese television, they will take the basics of the DBZ world and create a well-paced story.

Question: will the characters yell during power ups? Because a real human doing that is asking for internet videos. On the other hand, this seems to be based on earlier arcs, so there will be less of that.

I'll see it just for the sake of seeing it!

James Marsters as Piccolo. Interesting...

I'm already convinced that the movie will be terrible, but between Stephen Chow and James Wong, at least we know it has a chance of having some cool fights.

ha ha. i wonder if stephen chow'll throw out some random comical moments like he did in kung fu hustle and shaolin soccer...

jon_jinn wrote:ha ha. i wonder if stephen chow'll throw out some random comical moments like he did in kung fu hustle and shaolin soccer...

Considering it's DBZ that could work if applied correctly.

I love DBZ, so I'll still see the movie, even if it's bad. Although Stephen Chow's producing does give me some ease, I still have doubts about the plot I read. It had Goku being in high school...

Well, I guess all I can do is hope for the best! ^_^

As I always say,

"Live action is never as good as the real thing".

I'd heard from a friend a few years ago that they were going to do this but I'm kind of shocked they actually are. I'll still see it if not for the sake of laughing at how overly cheesy it may be...but who knows, maybe it will be as good as Transformers.

sstohru wrote:Although Stephen Chow's producing does give me some ease, I still have doubts about the plot I read. It had Goku being in high school...

Eh...could be worse. They could just take the plot of the original Spiderman movie and replace all the names with those of DBZ characters.

I'm waiting to see who they get for the important role of Bulma.

Actress Jamie Chung has signed onto the live-action Dragonball film as Chi Chi.


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

Yeah but who will Bulma be?After all without Bulma they don't have any of the electronic gear like the Dragonball Radar that they use.

mitsuki lover wrote:Yeah but who will Bulma be?After all without Bulma they don't have any of the electronic gear like the Dragonball Radar that they use.

Angelina Jolie..................XD i almost wouldn't be surprised

anyways i think stephen chow might do a decent job seeing that Kung fu Hustle was basically a live action anime at times.

T'will be interesting...DBZ was never one of my favorites...Just didn't like the art style.

I'm still waiting for the Metroid movie!

For people who think I am kidding about Bulma,consider this factoid:
it's Bulma that starts the entire Dragonball quest going in the first place when she originally meets young Goku and tells him about them.Later on she develops,among other things,the Dragon Radar that makes it possible for the Z Fighters to easily track down and find the varoius Dragon Balls.Without her scientific and mechanical genius the series would not exist.

OOh this movie looks interesting...I will probably go see it to support it XD. Even if it's terrible.

ML- we know you think Bulma is really important to the story, but you know, DBZ wouldn't be a show without the other characters either... Just sayin' >.>

It will be interesting to see who plays everyone! ^^

Very true Kit, I even remember joking about the death of Cargo on Namek. It's such a small detail and most people laugh about it because that IS all he's remembered for, but...what if he didn't die? That means Freeza/Dodoria (depends on the anime or manga) would've killed Dende instead. Then how could've they used the dragon balls? They couldn't! Then Piccolo would've never been brought back to life (hence never fused with Nail), Gohan, Vegeta and Krillin would've most likely died because "Super Piccolo" wouldn't have come to save them and...ya.

Pretty much the whole story would've ended with everyone dying. Goku might've been able to make it back to earth, but in the end, would it matter? He would've had to rebattle Freeza again on earth, and even if he DID beat him all alone...he dies of a heart disease later.

Friggin earth is doomed in the universe Cargo was never born into. XD

Though at the same time I see what he's saying. Had Bulma never even shown up, "the world's greatest hero" would've stayed living in the forest. Would've never found out what a girl was, would've never gotten into martial arts...the story would still explode like the above, but it would've all ended much, much earlier.

Just repoted from the The Hollywood Reporter newspapers

Emmy Rossum has signed to play the part of Bulma.

Eriko Tamura has signed to play the part of Mai.

Former G.O.D. Korean singer Joon Park has signed to play the part of Yamcha.

The movie release is plan for Aug 15, 2008


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

Roy Mustang wrote:Eriko Tamura has signed to play the part of Mai.

i don't even remember Mai from the DBZ series...

jon_jinn wrote:i don't even remember Mai from the DBZ series...

She was an antagonist character in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT. I don't ever remember her showing up in DBZ.


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

You're kidding me... That thing they've been talking about for so long... They're finally getting around to it!?

This I gotta see...

Hana Ryuuzaki wrote:I'm still waiting for the Metroid movie!

I hear ya, Girl!!!

It's gonna be embarrassing seeing the trailers on TV...