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Dragonball Evolution

December 07, 2023

Dragonball Evolution is a 2009 American science fantasy martial arts action film directed by James Wong, produced by Stephen Chow, and written by Ben Ramsey. It is loosely based on the Japanese Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama, and stars Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, James Marsters, Jamie Chung, Chow Yun-fat, Joon Park, and Eriko Tamura. In Dragonball Evolution, the young Goku reveals his past and sets out to fight the evil alien warlord Lord Piccolo who wishes to gain the powerful Dragon Balls and use them to take over Earth.

Dragonball Evolution
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames Wong
Screenplay byBen Ramsey
Based onDragon Ball
by Akira Toriyama
Produced byStephen Chow
Starring
CinematographyRobert McLachlan
Edited byMatthew Friedman
Chris Willingham
Music byBrian Tyler
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • March 10, 2009 (2009-03-10) (Japan)
  • April 10, 2009 (2009-04-10) (United States)
Running time
85 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[3]
Box office$56.5 million[3]

The film began development in 2002 and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first official live-action adaptation of the Dragon Ball series. Dragonball Evolution was released in Japan and several other Asian countries on March 13, 2009, and in the United States on April 10, 2009.

The film was both a financial and critical failure. It received negative reviews from critics and was panned by fans, particularly for its script, cast, and unfaithfulness to the source material. Additionally, it performed poorly at the box office, grossing only $9.4 million in North America and a worldwide total of $56.5 million against a budget of $30 million. The film was meant to be the first of a series, though all subsequent films were canceled. It is often referred to as one of the worst films of all time.[citation needed] The film has been accused of whitewashing and has had a negative effect on future anime-to-cinema adaptations, due to its poor casting, lack of loyalty to the source material, and failure at the box office.[4]

Plot edit

Two thousand years ago, the Namek King Piccolo came to Earth and wreaked havoc. Seven mystics were able to seal Piccolo away using a powerful enchantment called the Mafuba. However, he breaks free in present day, and with his ninja-like henchwoman Mai, begins searching for the seven Dragonballs, killing anyone in his path.

On his eighteenth birthday, martial artist and high school senior Goku is given the four-star Dragonball by his [5] Grandpa Gohan. Returning home from a party hosted by his crush Chi-Chi, Goku finds his home destroyed by Piccolo, who was looking for the Dragonball. Before he dies, Gohan tells Goku to seek out martial arts guru Master Roshi, who has another one of the Dragonballs.

Goku then meets Bulma of the Capsule Corporation, who has invented a device that locates the Dragonballs. Goku offers Bulma protection in exchange for helping him find Roshi. After finding him in Paozu City, Roshi joins their search and begins helping Goku master his ki. During their search for another Dragonball, they fall into a trap set by the desert bandit Yamcha, whom Roshi convinces to join them by promising some of the royalties for Bulma's invention. Together, they fight off an ambush by Mai and obtain the next Dragonball.

As the group continues their quest, they visit The World Martial Arts Tournament where Chi-Chi is competing; she fights Mai in a match, who steals a sample of her blood. Chi-Chi briefly joins the group as they travel to a temple where Roshi consults his former teacher Sifu Norris and begins preparing a new Mafuba enchantment to reseal Piccolo, while Chi-Chi helps Goku in his training to learn the most powerful of the ki-bending techniques: the Kamehameha Wave. That night, Mai arrives having used Chi-Chi's blood to assume her appearance. Unable to tell Mai from Chi-Chi, Goku accidentally knocks out Chi-Chi and is shot by Mai, who steals the team's Dragonballs. Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, and Roshi go in pursuit of Mai and Piccolo.

Having acquired all seven Dragonballs, Piccolo arrives at the Dragon Temple and begins to summon Shenron, but is stopped by the timely arrival of Goku's team. During the ensuing battle, Piccolo reveals to Goku that he is his minion, Ōzaru the Great Ape, having been sent to Earth as an infant to destroy it when he was older. As the solar eclipse transforms Goku into Ōzaru. Roshi attempts to use the Mafuba on Piccolo, but he doesn't have enough energy allowing Piccolo to break free. Ōzaru chokes Roshi to death, but his dying words enable Goku to fight back Ōzaru. He engages Piccolo in a final battle, seemingly defeating him with the Kamehameha Wave. Goku then uses the Dragonballs to summon Shenron, restoring Roshi back to life.

As the group celebrates, Bulma declares that the Dragonballs have scattered, and that they must search for them again. Before heading out, Goku meets with Chi-Chi and apologizes for knocking her unconscious, and they begin a sparring match.

In a mid-credits scene, Piccolo is revealed to be alive and treated by a woman.

Cast edit

See also: List of Dragon Ball characters

Production edit

Development edit

In 1995, Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan, who was a fan of the series, had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a live-action film. However, he said it would require "a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget."[6] When asked about the casting for main protagonist Goku in 2013, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama said that "nobody came to mind" for the role, but if "it were back when Jackie Chan was still young, I suppose I would have thought nobody could play Goku but him."[7]

In 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired the live-action feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise from Shueisha, publisher of Toriyama's original manga series. Mark Schilling reported that Toriyama was engaged by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant.[8] In the same year, Stephen Chow was approached to direct the film, and although he said he was deeply interested because he is a fan of Dragon Ball, Chow declined the chance to direct. Instead, he accepted a role as a producer via his company Star Overseas. Robert Rodriguez, Mark A.Z. Dippé and Zack Snyder were offered to direct but passed. 20th Century Fox then went on to send the script to writer/director James Wong who accepted. In 2007, James Wong and RatPac-Dune Entertainment co-founder Brett Ratner were announced as director and producer respectively, and the project was retitled Dragonball. Ben Ramsey's first draft was deemed too expensive to shoot, and in the end, he wrote about five different drafts of the script following notes from the studio. James Wong wrote the last draft, again according to notes from the studio, but decided to remain uncredited as the co-screenwriter.[9] Chow was a Dragon Ball fan, citing its "airy and unstrained story [which] leaves much room for creation", but explained he would only serve as a producer because he believes that he should only direct stories he had created.[10]

Differing costs to produce the film have been reported. In January 2008, Marsters spoke to TV Guide that he was told the film had a budget of approximately $100 million.[11] In April 2009, the Spanish television station Telecinco reported that the budget was $50 million.[12] Marsters would later claim that the film in fact was produced for $30 million.[13]

Casting edit

Justin Chatwin was selected to play the film's central character Goku.[9] Ron Perlman was originally offered the role of the villain Lord Piccolo, but turned it down to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army.[14] James Marsters, who accepted the role, noted he was a fan of the original anime adaptation, describing it as "the coolest television cartoon in the last 50,000 years [because] it's got a Shakespearean sense of good and evil."[15] Summarizing the original concept of his Piccolo, he said the character was "thousands of years old and a very long time ago he used to be a force of good, but [he] got into a bad argument and was put into prison for 2000 years. It got him very angry, and he finds a way to escape and then tries to destroy the world."[15] Originally, Piccolo was going to be depicted as a handsome creature, but Marsters and the make-up artist chose to give him a decrepit complexion to reflect his having been trapped for thousands of years stewing in his evil and thirst for vengeance. The first time the make-up was applied, it took seventeen hours and left Marsters with difficulty breathing. In subsequent applications, it generally only took four hours.[16]

Stephen Chow originally wanted to cast Zhang Yuqi, with whom he worked on CJ7, for the part of Chi Chi, but the role eventually went to Jamie Chung.[10][17]

Filming edit

Principal photography began on December 3, 2007,[18] in Mexico City, Mexico. Locations included the Universidad Tecnológica de México.[19]

From January 2, 2008,[19] the crew shot at Sierra de Órganos National Park.[20][21][22][23] The crew moved to Estado de México in March of that year for some shots at Nevado de Toluca.[24] Shooting has also been scheduled at Los Angeles, California.[25] In adapting the Dragon Ball manga, the futuristic cities and flying vehicles were kept; however, the anthropomorphic creatures and talking animals (such as Turtle, Oolong, Puar, Shu, and Korin) were dropped.[26] Many of the locations are very Oriental,[27] and there was some Aztec influence too, particularly from their temples.[28] It was thought that Rossum would wear a blue wig to resemble her manga counterpart, but it was ultimately decided that such a look was too unrealistic. Instead, she had her natural brown with blue streaks. Chatwin did not wear a wig as the director felt Chatwin's hair resembled Goku's.[27] A large amount of Dragonball Evolution was shot in an abandoned jeans factory, also located in Durango, Mexico.[29]

Dragonball Evolution special effects were done by Amalgamated Dynamics, while the visual effects were done by Ollin Studios, Zoic Studios, and Imagine Engine.

Music edit

Main article: Dragonball Evolution: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

On December 9, 2008, it was confirmed that the theme song would be "Rule" by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki. Also featured on the film's soundtrack is American pop artist Brian Anthony, whose remixed song "Worked Up" was released as a single in English territories,[30] and is included on the home video releases as a bonus feature.[31]

The film's soundtrack, Dragonball Evolution: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, was released in the United States on March 17, 2009, by Varèse Sarabande.

The score was composed by Brian Tyler, who recorded the score with an 82-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.[32] The score was met with positive reviews from music critics, who drew comparisons to Tyler's previous works.[33][34][35][36][37]

Marketing edit

Novelization edit

A film novelization, Dragonball Evolution: The Junior Novel, was written by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon. Aimed at children ages 8–15, the novel was released by Viz Media on February 24, 2009.[38][39] The same day, a series of chapter books for readers 7–10 was released.[39]

The three volumes, subtitled The Discovery, The Search, and The Battle were also written by Deutsch and Cohan.[40][41][42]

A 16-paged sticker book, Dragonball: Evolution Sticker Book, followed on March 24, 2009.[43] Released a week later on March 31, 2009, by Viz was a 22-page Dragonball: Evolution Posterzine featuring eleven posters, cast interviews, and merchandise previews.[44]

Video game edit

On January 19, 2009, Namco Bandai Games and Fox announced a tie-in PSP video game, which was released in Japan on March 19 and North America on April 7. The game includes all of the major characters from the film and features various playing modes, including a local multi-player battle mode, production stills, and storyboards from the film.[45]

Merchandise edit

The Hong Kong-based company Enterbay produced a 1:6-scaled line for Dragonball Evolution. A 1:6 Goku figure was made along with Lord Piccolo. Bulma was planned to be the third figure of the series in addition to being the first female figure Enterbay has ever released. Prototypes of the Bulma figure were shown on Enterbay's blog but in November 2010, Enterbay confirmed that Bulma was canceled. Bandai America released a mass-market toy-line based on the movie in time for the theatrical release. The figures came in 4-inch and 6-inch versions.[46] Lastly, Japanese toy company MediCom created stylized Goku and Piccolo Be@rbrick toys to coincide with the release of the film.[47]

Tie-ins edit

The July 2008 issue of Jump Square published a manga by Daisuke Kadokuni, inspired by the film.[48]

Release edit

Theatrical edit

Though an American film, Dragonball: Evolution was released in Japan and Hong Kong on March 13, 2009, nearly a month before its American release.[49][50][51] It was released in Australia on April 2 and in the United Kingdom on April 8.[52][53]

Its release in its home country changed dates many times. Initially scheduled to be released in North America on August 15, 2008, it was later moved to April 2009 to allow time for additional filming and post-production work. The specific date then changed back and forth between April 10 and 8, with the final release date being April 10.[54][55]

The marketing of the theatrical release included a viral "personal expressions" campaign created by digital agency Red Box New Media[56] that ran on the Windows Live Messenger application. Alongside that campaign, Fox hired Picture Production Company to develop a PC/Wii flash game under the name Can you Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha?[57] This game was released just before the film in conjunction with another viral campaign that encouraged fans to send in their renditions of the fighting move.[58]

Home media edit

The film was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on July 28[31] and on Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on August 31.[59] The Region 4 DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released in Australia on November 18.[60]

Reception edit

Box office edit

The film had a gross earning in the United States and Canada of $9,362,785 and an international gross of $47,148,672 for a combined worldwide box office gross of $56,511,457.[3]

The film opened with its competitors—Hannah Montana: The Movie and Fast & Furious (the latter in its second weekend). On its opening weekend in the United States, the film grossed $4,756,488 from 2,181 sites. Box Office Mojo described this as "paltry", and was comparable to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and Speed Racer.[61][62][63] In its second weekend, it dropped to 11th place.[64][65][66]

Critical response edit

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 15% of 62 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Executed with little panache or invention, Dragonball Evolution lacks the magic that made the books on which it was based a cult sensation."[67] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[68] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F.[69]

Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network, who was initially annoyed at fans of the franchise who criticized the film via leaked set shots and trailers before the film's release, protested to boycott the film and stated "the fans were right."[70] He also criticized its poor explanation of plot elements, hackneyed storyline, and lackluster effort by the actors.[70] Variety's Russell Edwards found the film "passable", "pleasing if paint-by-numbers", noting it "doesn't take itself too seriously, but avoids campiness", that "the climactic clash between Piccolo and Goku offers a faithful CGI representation of the ethereal powers as drawn in the original manga" and that the climax offers an "impressive character twist for Goku that will warm the cockles of every young Jungian's heart."[71] Luke Thompson of E! Online referred to the film as a "surreal mess" that would only make sense to fans of the original series. He questioned the use of a Caucasian in the main role and felt Chow Yun-Fat was "overacting like never before", but did consider it "fun in a train-wreck kind of way" and that while it was never boring it was also never "logical, coherent [or] rational".[72]

Christopher Monfette of IGN gave the film a positive review, stating that it captured "the flavor of anime without becoming overly cartoonish". He praised the main cast for "creating characters the audience can actually care about" and felt Chatwin was particularly likeable as Goku.[73] Slant Magazine's Rob Humanick considered the film "uninspired" and implausible with an "aimlessly hyperactive construction and complete lack of substance" and "cobbled-together FX fakery".[74] Reviewing the film for Australia's ABC Radio National, Jason Di Rosso stated the film was "lacking the visual panache of recent graphic novel adaptations". He agreed the film was uninspired and also felt it had dull "high school movie banter" dialog and was "cliché-ridden".[75] The Village Voice's Aaron Hillis called the film a "loony live-action adaptation", but felt it was "more entertaining than it deserves to be" and would likely appeal to ten-year-old boys.[76] Alonso Duralde of MSNBC found the film to be "both entertainingly ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining" and noted that "kids will have such a blast that you can turn this movie into the gateway kung-fu drug that makes them want to watch the earlier work of Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-Fat, that is if Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-fat had a Caucasian actor in the starring role."[77] Jeffrey K. Lyles of The Gazette found the film to be "a fairly entertaining martial arts adventure for the younger audiences" and tolerable to adults. He felt Chatwin was ill-cast as Goku, and that director Wong failed to capture the "frenetic sense of the anime" adaptation in the action scenes, leaving them an effort to understand.[78]

Creator response edit

Before the film's release, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama expressed surprise at Dragonball: Evolution and suggested fans treat it as an alternate universe version of his work.[79] In a 2013 interview with Asahi Shimbun, Toriyama revealed that he had felt the script did not "capture the world or the characteristics" of his series and was "bland" and not interesting, so he cautioned and gave suggestions for changes. But the Hollywood producers did not heed his advice, "And just as I thought, the result was a movie I cannot call Dragon Ball."[80][81] Discussing the film in 2016's 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Chōshishū - Super History Book, Toriyama wrote: "I had put Dragon Ball behind me, but seeing how much that live-action film ticked me off..."[82]

At the 2014 Wizard World Convention, actor James Marsters expressed feelings that he was misled about Dragonball: Evolution, claiming, "they told me it was a $120 million picture, and that Stephen Chow was producing. And I get out to Durango, Mexico and it's a $30 million picture and Stephen Chow is just on paper to fool us down into the desert. And they don't even want to pay for the stuntman to get made up like me, so they never used the stuntman; they just kept putting me up on wires. I still have a separated clavicle from the shoot, because it was just gnarly."[83]

In 2016, writer Ben Ramsey apologized for the film, writing: "To have something with my name on it as the writer be so globally reviled is gut-wrenching. To receive hate mail from all over the world is heartbreaking. [...] I went into the project chasing after a big payday, not as a fan of the franchise but as a businessman taking on an assignment. I have learned that when you go into a creative endeavor without passion you come out with sub-optimal results, and sometimes flat-out garbage. So I'm not blaming anyone for Dragonball [Evolution] but myself."[84][85][86]

Accolades edit

The film was nominated for a 2009 Spike TV Scream Award for "Best Comic Book Movie,"[87] but lost to Watchmen. JoBlo.com nominated the film for its Golden Schmoes Awards in the category Worst Movie of the Year 2009.[88]

Canceled sequels edit

At the time it was released, plans were in place for a sequel film to Dragonball Evolution. In a 2009 interview with IGN, James Marsters, who played King Piccolo, said that he had signed on for three films and expressed interest in making as many as seven, stating that his character "only really gets interesting in the second film".[89] Justin Chatwin commented that subsequent films would feature elements from the Dragon Ball Z portion of the franchise, likely delving further into his Saiyan origins, and introducing Gohan and Vegeta, which he felt was "really exciting. It goes into the whole legend of Dragonball".[89] A script for a sequel was being written before the film's release.[90] Marsters said that he would have reprised his role in future films, having "every intention of fulfilling the arc of Piccolo in live-action". Marsters indicated that the planned arc would feature elements from Dragon Ball Z, potentially including Piccolo's reincarnation and redemption, which would merge Piccolo and his son Piccolo Jr. into one character.[90] Chatwin and Chung also expressed their hopes that Goku's best friend Krillin would be included in a sequel, noting "their dynamic in the anime's just too good not to use in this movie. If the studio knew better, they'd already have people lined up for auditions". However, the film's poor commercial and critical performance caused any planned sequels to be canceled.

References edit

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External links edit

December 07, 2023
dragonball, evolution, 2009, american, science, fantasy, martial, arts, action, film, directed, james, wong, produced, stephen, chow, written, ramsey, loosely, based, japanese, dragon, ball, manga, series, created, akira, toriyama, stars, justin, chatwin, emmy. Dragonball Evolution is a 2009 American science fantasy martial arts action film directed by James Wong produced by Stephen Chow and written by Ben Ramsey It is loosely based on the Japanese Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama and stars Justin Chatwin Emmy Rossum James Marsters Jamie Chung Chow Yun fat Joon Park and Eriko Tamura In Dragonball Evolution the young Goku reveals his past and sets out to fight the evil alien warlord Lord Piccolo who wishes to gain the powerful Dragon Balls and use them to take over Earth Dragonball EvolutionTheatrical release posterDirected byJames WongScreenplay byBen RamseyBased onDragon Ballby Akira ToriyamaProduced byStephen ChowStarringJustin Chatwin Emmy Rossum Jamie Chung Chow Yun fatCinematographyRobert McLachlanEdited byMatthew FriedmanChris WillinghamMusic byBrian TylerProductioncompaniesDune Entertainment Star Overseas Ingenious Media Big Screen ProductionsDistributed by20th Century FoxRelease datesMarch 10 2009 2009 03 10 Japan April 10 2009 2009 04 10 United States Running time85 minutes 2 CountryUnited States 1 LanguageEnglishBudget 30 million 3 Box office 56 5 million 3 The film began development in 2002 and was distributed by 20th Century Fox It is the first official live action adaptation of the Dragon Ball series Dragonball Evolution was released in Japan and several other Asian countries on March 13 2009 and in the United States on April 10 2009 The film was both a financial and critical failure It received negative reviews from critics and was panned by fans particularly for its script cast and unfaithfulness to the source material Additionally it performed poorly at the box office grossing only 9 4 million in North America and a worldwide total of 56 5 million against a budget of 30 million The film was meant to be the first of a series though all subsequent films were canceled It is often referred to as one of the worst films of all time citation needed The film has been accused of whitewashing and has had a negative effect on future anime to cinema adaptations due to its poor casting lack of loyalty to the source material and failure at the box office 4 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Development 3 2 Casting 3 3 Filming 4 Music 5 Marketing 5 1 Novelization 5 2 Video game 5 3 Merchandise 5 4 Tie ins 6 Release 6 1 Theatrical 6 2 Home media 7 Reception 7 1 Box office 7 2 Critical response 7 3 Creator response 7 4 Accolades 8 Canceled sequels 9 References 10 External linksPlot editTwo thousand years ago the Namek King Piccolo came to Earth and wreaked havoc Seven mystics were able to seal Piccolo away using a powerful enchantment called the Mafuba However he breaks free in present day and with his ninja like henchwoman Mai begins searching for the seven Dragonballs killing anyone in his path On his eighteenth birthday martial artist and high school senior Goku is given the four star Dragonball by his 5 Grandpa Gohan Returning home from a party hosted by his crush Chi Chi Goku finds his home destroyed by Piccolo who was looking for the Dragonball Before he dies Gohan tells Goku to seek out martial arts guru Master Roshi who has another one of the Dragonballs Goku then meets Bulma of the Capsule Corporation who has invented a device that locates the Dragonballs Goku offers Bulma protection in exchange for helping him find Roshi After finding him in Paozu City Roshi joins their search and begins helping Goku master his ki During their search for another Dragonball they fall into a trap set by the desert bandit Yamcha whom Roshi convinces to join them by promising some of the royalties for Bulma s invention Together they fight off an ambush by Mai and obtain the next Dragonball As the group continues their quest they visit The World Martial Arts Tournament where Chi Chi is competing she fights Mai in a match who steals a sample of her blood Chi Chi briefly joins the group as they travel to a temple where Roshi consults his former teacher Sifu Norris and begins preparing a new Mafuba enchantment to reseal Piccolo while Chi Chi helps Goku in his training to learn the most powerful of the ki bending techniques the Kamehameha Wave That night Mai arrives having used Chi Chi s blood to assume her appearance Unable to tell Mai from Chi Chi Goku accidentally knocks out Chi Chi and is shot by Mai who steals the team s Dragonballs Goku Bulma Yamcha and Roshi go in pursuit of Mai and Piccolo Having acquired all seven Dragonballs Piccolo arrives at the Dragon Temple and begins to summon Shenron but is stopped by the timely arrival of Goku s team During the ensuing battle Piccolo reveals to Goku that he is his minion Ōzaru the Great Ape having been sent to Earth as an infant to destroy it when he was older As the solar eclipse transforms Goku into Ōzaru Roshi attempts to use the Mafuba on Piccolo but he doesn t have enough energy allowing Piccolo to break free Ōzaru chokes Roshi to death but his dying words enable Goku to fight back Ōzaru He engages Piccolo in a final battle seemingly defeating him with the Kamehameha Wave Goku then uses the Dragonballs to summon Shenron restoring Roshi back to life As the group celebrates Bulma declares that the Dragonballs have scattered and that they must search for them again Before heading out Goku meets with Chi Chi and apologizes for knocking her unconscious and they begin a sparring match In a mid credits scene Piccolo is revealed to be alive and treated by a woman Cast editSee also List of Dragon Ball characters Justin Chatwin as Goku Chow Yun fat as Master Roshi Emmy Rossum as Bulma Jamie Chung as Chi Chi James Marsters as King Piccolo Joon Park as Yamcha Eriko Tamura as Mai Randall Duk Kim as Grandpa Gohan Ian Whyte as Ōzaru Ernie Hudson as Sifu Norris Texas Battle as Carey Fuller Richard Blake as Agundes Megumi Seki as Seki Shavon Kirksey as Emi Jon Valera as MorenoProduction editDevelopment edit In 1995 Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan who was a fan of the series had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a live action film However he said it would require a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget 6 When asked about the casting for main protagonist Goku in 2013 Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama said that nobody came to mind for the role but if it were back when Jackie Chan was still young I suppose I would have thought nobody could play Goku but him 7 In 2002 20th Century Fox acquired the live action feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise from Shueisha publisher of Toriyama s original manga series Mark Schilling reported that Toriyama was engaged by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant 8 In the same year Stephen Chow was approached to direct the film and although he said he was deeply interested because he is a fan of Dragon Ball Chow declined the chance to direct Instead he accepted a role as a producer via his company Star Overseas Robert Rodriguez Mark A Z Dippe and Zack Snyder were offered to direct but passed 20th Century Fox then went on to send the script to writer director James Wong who accepted In 2007 James Wong and RatPac Dune Entertainment co founder Brett Ratner were announced as director and producer respectively and the project was retitled Dragonball Ben Ramsey s first draft was deemed too expensive to shoot and in the end he wrote about five different drafts of the script following notes from the studio James Wong wrote the last draft again according to notes from the studio but decided to remain uncredited as the co screenwriter 9 Chow was a Dragon Ball fan citing its airy and unstrained story which leaves much room for creation but explained he would only serve as a producer because he believes that he should only direct stories he had created 10 Differing costs to produce the film have been reported In January 2008 Marsters spoke to TV Guide that he was told the film had a budget of approximately 100 million 11 In April 2009 the Spanish television station Telecinco reported that the budget was 50 million 12 Marsters would later claim that the film in fact was produced for 30 million 13 Casting edit Justin Chatwin was selected to play the film s central character Goku 9 Ron Perlman was originally offered the role of the villain Lord Piccolo but turned it down to work on Hellboy II The Golden Army 14 James Marsters who accepted the role noted he was a fan of the original anime adaptation describing it as the coolest television cartoon in the last 50 000 years because it s got a Shakespearean sense of good and evil 15 Summarizing the original concept of his Piccolo he said the character was thousands of years old and a very long time ago he used to be a force of good but he got into a bad argument and was put into prison for 2000 years It got him very angry and he finds a way to escape and then tries to destroy the world 15 Originally Piccolo was going to be depicted as a handsome creature but Marsters and the make up artist chose to give him a decrepit complexion to reflect his having been trapped for thousands of years stewing in his evil and thirst for vengeance The first time the make up was applied it took seventeen hours and left Marsters with difficulty breathing In subsequent applications it generally only took four hours 16 Stephen Chow originally wanted to cast Zhang Yuqi with whom he worked on CJ7 for the part of Chi Chi but the role eventually went to Jamie Chung 10 17 Filming edit Principal photography began on December 3 2007 18 in Mexico City Mexico Locations included the Universidad Tecnologica de Mexico 19 From January 2 2008 19 the crew shot at Sierra de organos National Park 20 21 22 23 The crew moved to Estado de Mexico in March of that year for some shots at Nevado de Toluca 24 Shooting has also been scheduled at Los Angeles California 25 In adapting the Dragon Ball manga the futuristic cities and flying vehicles were kept however the anthropomorphic creatures and talking animals such as Turtle Oolong Puar Shu and Korin were dropped 26 Many of the locations are very Oriental 27 and there was some Aztec influence too particularly from their temples 28 It was thought that Rossum would wear a blue wig to resemble her manga counterpart but it was ultimately decided that such a look was too unrealistic Instead she had her natural brown with blue streaks Chatwin did not wear a wig as the director felt Chatwin s hair resembled Goku s 27 A large amount of Dragonball Evolution was shot in an abandoned jeans factory also located in Durango Mexico 29 Dragonball Evolution special effects were done by Amalgamated Dynamics while the visual effects were done by Ollin Studios Zoic Studios and Imagine Engine Music editMain article Dragonball Evolution Original Motion Picture Soundtrack On December 9 2008 it was confirmed that the theme song would be Rule by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki Also featured on the film s soundtrack is American pop artist Brian Anthony whose remixed song Worked Up was released as a single in English territories 30 and is included on the home video releases as a bonus feature 31 The film s soundtrack Dragonball Evolution Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in the United States on March 17 2009 by Varese Sarabande The score was composed by Brian Tyler who recorded the score with an 82 piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox 32 The score was met with positive reviews from music critics who drew comparisons to Tyler s previous works 33 34 35 36 37 Marketing editNovelization edit A film novelization Dragonball Evolution The Junior Novel was written by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon Aimed at children ages 8 15 the novel was released by Viz Media on February 24 2009 38 39 The same day a series of chapter books for readers 7 10 was released 39 The three volumes subtitled The Discovery The Search and The Battle were also written by Deutsch and Cohan 40 41 42 A 16 paged sticker book Dragonball Evolution Sticker Book followed on March 24 2009 43 Released a week later on March 31 2009 by Viz was a 22 page Dragonball Evolution Posterzine featuring eleven posters cast interviews and merchandise previews 44 Video game edit On January 19 2009 Namco Bandai Games and Fox announced a tie in PSP video game which was released in Japan on March 19 and North America on April 7 The game includes all of the major characters from the film and features various playing modes including a local multi player battle mode production stills and storyboards from the film 45 Merchandise edit The Hong Kong based company Enterbay produced a 1 6 scaled line for Dragonball Evolution A 1 6 Goku figure was made along with Lord Piccolo Bulma was planned to be the third figure of the series in addition to being the first female figure Enterbay has ever released Prototypes of the Bulma figure were shown on Enterbay s blog but in November 2010 Enterbay confirmed that Bulma was canceled Bandai America released a mass market toy line based on the movie in time for the theatrical release The figures came in 4 inch and 6 inch versions 46 Lastly Japanese toy company MediCom created stylized Goku and Piccolo Be rbrick toys to coincide with the release of the film 47 Tie ins edit The July 2008 issue of Jump Square published a manga by Daisuke Kadokuni inspired by the film 48 Release editTheatrical edit Though an American film Dragonball Evolution was released in Japan and Hong Kong on March 13 2009 nearly a month before its American release 49 50 51 It was released in Australia on April 2 and in the United Kingdom on April 8 52 53 Its release in its home country changed dates many times Initially scheduled to be released in North America on August 15 2008 it was later moved to April 2009 to allow time for additional filming and post production work The specific date then changed back and forth between April 10 and 8 with the final release date being April 10 54 55 The marketing of the theatrical release included a viral personal expressions campaign created by digital agency Red Box New Media 56 that ran on the Windows Live Messenger application Alongside that campaign Fox hired Picture Production Company to develop a PC Wii flash game under the name Can you Ka Me Ha Me Ha 57 This game was released just before the film in conjunction with another viral campaign that encouraged fans to send in their renditions of the fighting move 58 Home media edit The film was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu ray Disc in North America on July 28 31 and on Region 2 DVD and Blu ray Disc in the United Kingdom on August 31 59 The Region 4 DVD and Blu ray Disc was released in Australia on November 18 60 Reception editBox office edit The film had a gross earning in the United States and Canada of 9 362 785 and an international gross of 47 148 672 for a combined worldwide box office gross of 56 511 457 3 The film opened with its competitors Hannah Montana The Movie and Fast amp Furious the latter in its second weekend On its opening weekend in the United States the film grossed 4 756 488 from 2 181 sites Box Office Mojo described this as paltry and was comparable to Street Fighter The Legend of Chun Li and Speed Racer 61 62 63 In its second weekend it dropped to 11th place 64 65 66 Critical response edit On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes 15 of 62 critics reviews are positive with an average rating of 3 6 10 The website s consensus reads Executed with little panache or invention Dragonball Evolution lacks the magic that made the books on which it was based a cult sensation 67 Metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100 based on 10 critics indicating mixed or average reviews 68 Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C on scale of A to F 69 Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network who was initially annoyed at fans of the franchise who criticized the film via leaked set shots and trailers before the film s release protested to boycott the film and stated the fans were right 70 He also criticized its poor explanation of plot elements hackneyed storyline and lackluster effort by the actors 70 Variety s Russell Edwards found the film passable pleasing if paint by numbers noting it doesn t take itself too seriously but avoids campiness that the climactic clash between Piccolo and Goku offers a faithful CGI representation of the ethereal powers as drawn in the original manga and that the climax offers an impressive character twist for Goku that will warm the cockles of every young Jungian s heart 71 Luke Thompson of E Online referred to the film as a surreal mess that would only make sense to fans of the original series He questioned the use of a Caucasian in the main role and felt Chow Yun Fat was overacting like never before but did consider it fun in a train wreck kind of way and that while it was never boring it was also never logical coherent or rational 72 Christopher Monfette of IGN gave the film a positive review stating that it captured the flavor of anime without becoming overly cartoonish He praised the main cast for creating characters the audience can actually care about and felt Chatwin was particularly likeable as Goku 73 Slant Magazine s Rob Humanick considered the film uninspired and implausible with an aimlessly hyperactive construction and complete lack of substance and cobbled together FX fakery 74 Reviewing the film for Australia s ABC Radio National Jason Di Rosso stated the film was lacking the visual panache of recent graphic novel adaptations He agreed the film was uninspired and also felt it had dull high school movie banter dialog and was cliche ridden 75 The Village Voice s Aaron Hillis called the film a loony live action adaptation but felt it was more entertaining than it deserves to be and would likely appeal to ten year old boys 76 Alonso Duralde of MSNBC found the film to be both entertainingly ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining and noted that kids will have such a blast that you can turn this movie into the gateway kung fu drug that makes them want to watch the earlier work of Stephen Chow and Chow Yun Fat that is if Stephen Chow and Chow Yun fat had a Caucasian actor in the starring role 77 Jeffrey K Lyles of The Gazette found the film to be a fairly entertaining martial arts adventure for the younger audiences and tolerable to adults He felt Chatwin was ill cast as Goku and that director Wong failed to capture the frenetic sense of the anime adaptation in the action scenes leaving them an effort to understand 78 Creator response edit Before the film s release Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama expressed surprise at Dragonball Evolution and suggested fans treat it as an alternate universe version of his work 79 In a 2013 interview with Asahi Shimbun Toriyama revealed that he had felt the script did not capture the world or the characteristics of his series and was bland and not interesting so he cautioned and gave suggestions for changes But the Hollywood producers did not heed his advice And just as I thought the result was a movie I cannot call Dragon Ball 80 81 Discussing the film in 2016 s 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Chōshishu Super History Book Toriyama wrote I had put Dragon Ball behind me but seeing how much that live action film ticked me off 82 At the 2014 Wizard World Convention actor James Marsters expressed feelings that he was misled about Dragonball Evolution claiming they told me it was a 120 million picture and that Stephen Chow was producing And I get out to Durango Mexico and it s a 30 million picture and Stephen Chow is just on paper to fool us down into the desert And they don t even want to pay for the stuntman to get made up like me so they never used the stuntman they just kept putting me up on wires I still have a separated clavicle from the shoot because it was just gnarly 83 In 2016 writer Ben Ramsey apologized for the film writing To have something with my name on it as the writer be so globally reviled is gut wrenching To receive hate mail from all over the world is heartbreaking I went into the project chasing after a big payday not as a fan of the franchise but as a businessman taking on an assignment I have learned that when you go into a creative endeavor without passion you come out with sub optimal results and sometimes flat out garbage So I m not blaming anyone for Dragonball Evolution but myself 84 85 86 Accolades edit The film was nominated for a 2009 Spike TV Scream Award for Best Comic Book Movie 87 but lost to Watchmen JoBlo com nominated the film for its Golden Schmoes Awards in the category Worst Movie of the Year 2009 88 Canceled sequels editAt the time it was released plans were in place for a sequel film to Dragonball Evolution In a 2009 interview with IGN James Marsters who played King Piccolo said that he had signed on for three films and expressed interest in making as many as seven stating that his character only really gets interesting in the second film 89 Justin Chatwin commented that subsequent films would feature elements from the Dragon Ball Z portion of the franchise likely delving further into his Saiyan origins and introducing Gohan and Vegeta which he felt was really exciting It goes into the whole legend of Dragonball 89 A script for a sequel was being written before the film s release 90 Marsters said that he would have reprised his role in future films having every intention of fulfilling the arc of Piccolo in live action Marsters indicated that the planned arc would feature elements from Dragon Ball Z potentially including Piccolo s reincarnation and redemption which would merge Piccolo and his son Piccolo Jr into one character 90 Chatwin and Chung also expressed their hopes that Goku s best friend Krillin would be included in a sequel noting their dynamic in the anime s just too good not to use in this movie If the studio knew better they d already have people lined up for auditions However the film s poor commercial and critical performance caused any planned sequels to be canceled References edit Goodridge Mike March 24 2009 Dragonball Evolution Screen Daily Archived from the original on December 8 2015 Retrieved December 3 2015 DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION PG British Board of Film Classification March 17 2009 Archived from the original on September 7 2021 Retrieved January 7 2021 a b c Dragonball Evolution 2009 The Numbers Retrieved May 3 2023 Top 10 Worst Movies of the 2000s watchmojo com WatchMojo June 10 2016 Archived from the original on December 15 2021 Retrieved December 15 2021 Peterson Air Force Base Fact Sheet Printable BASE MOVIE SCHEDULE Peterson af mil Archived from the original on May 24 2012 Retrieved August 15 2012 Toriyama Akira June 25 1995 I Love Dragon Ball 1 Jackie Chan DRAGON BALL 大全集 1 COMPLETE ILLUSTRATIONS in Japanese Shueisha p 7 ISBN 4 08 782754 2 Kobayashi Kendō March 24 2013 漫道コバヤシ 映画 ドラゴンボールZ神と神 公開記念 出でよ神龍 鳥山明先生 アンケート答えておくれーーーっ SP 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Retrieved March 27 2009 Goodness Gracious Great Dragon balls of fire Red Box New Media March 27 2009 Archived from the original on November 21 2009 Dragonball Evolution Can you KameHameHa Picture Production Company March 27 2009 Archived from the original on April 2 2012 Retrieved May 22 2011 Can You Kamehameha Picture Production Company February 27 2009 Archived from the original on July 30 2016 Retrieved November 27 2016 Dragonball Evolution DVD 2009 Amazon co uk Justin Chatwin James Marsters Chow Yun Fat Emmy Rossum Randall Duk Kim Jamie Chung Eriko Tamura Joon Park James Wong DVD Amazon co uk Archived from the original on December 29 2021 Retrieved July 3 2010 Dragonball Evolution Region 4 DVD Blu Ray Release Date EzyDVD October 25 2009 Archived from the original on October 3 2009 Retrieved October 25 2009 Brandon Gray April 13 2009 Weekend Report Hannah Montana Rules Easter Roost Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on February 11 2021 Retrieved October 10 2020 Dragonball Evolution 2009 Weekend Box Office Results Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on April 16 2009 Retrieved April 13 2009 Dragonball Evolution Opens at 8 with US 4 6 Million Updated Anime News Network April 12 2009 Archived from the original on April 14 2009 Retrieved April 12 2009 Dragonball Drops Out of Top 10 at U S Box Office Anime News Network April 19 2009 Archived from the original on April 21 2009 Retrieved April 20 2009 Brandon Gray April 20 2009 Weekend Report 17 Again Is Big Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on February 11 2021 Retrieved October 10 2020 Business was worse for Dragonball Evolution which dwindled 65 percent to 1 7 million for a puny 7 9 million in ten days Ray Subers June 26 2010 July Preview Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on October 14 2020 Retrieved October 10 2020 business for recent martial arts fantasies has ranged from modest The Forbidden Kingdom to pathetic Dragonball Evolution Dragonball Evolution 2009 Rotten Tomatoes Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved February 11 2021 Dragonball Evolution Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on July 28 2019 Retrieved November 11 2019 Cinemascore Archived from the original on December 20 2018 a b Review Dragonball Evolution Anime News Network March 16 2009 Archived from the original on March 20 2009 Retrieved March 19 2009 Edwards Russell March 25 2009 New Int l Release Dragonball Evolution Variety Archived from the original on December 29 2021 Retrieved November 11 2019 Thompson Luke April 9 2009 Dragonball Evolution A Surreal Mess E Online Archived from the original on July 10 2009 Retrieved June 11 2009 Monfette Christopher April 9 2009 Dragonball Evolution IGN Archived from the original on April 12 2009 Retrieved April 12 2009 Humanick Rob April 10 2009 Dragonball Evolution Slant Magazine Archived from the original on April 15 2009 Retrieved April 11 2009 Di Rosso Jason April 10 2009 Movietime April 10 2009 Dragonball Evolution Movie Time ABC Radio National Archived from the original on April 15 2009 Retrieved April 11 2009 Hillis Aaron April 10 2009 Dragonball Evolution A Cartoonish Coming of Ager The Village Voice Archived from the original on April 18 2009 Retrieved April 18 2009 Duralde Alonso April 10 2009 You ll have a ball at Dragonball Evolution Today com Archived from the original on March 13 2017 Retrieved April 18 2009 Lyles Jeffrey K April 16 2009 Movies Dragonball rehashes familiar teen themes The Gazette Archived from the original on April 18 2009 Retrieved April 18 2009 Dragonball Evolution Japanese Trailer February 23 2009 Archived from the original on July 14 2016 Retrieved December 9 2011 新作映画 原作者の意地 鳥山明さん独占インタビュ Asahi Shimbun in Japanese March 30 2013 Archived from the original on May 1 2013 Retrieved February 28 2015 Ashcraft Brian Didn t Like Hollywood s Dragon Ball Movie Well Neither Did Dragon Ball s Creator Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on September 3 2020 Retrieved February 28 2015 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball 超史集 Super History Book in Japanese Shueisha 2016 p 2 ISBN 978 4 08 792505 0 Seibold Witney June 2 2022 James Marsters Knew Dragonball Evolution Was Doomed From His First Day On Set Film Retrieved July 12 2022 Padula Derek May 3 2016 Dragon Ball Evolution Writer Apologizes to Fans The Dao of Dragon Ball Archived from the original on January 3 2018 Retrieved October 10 2020 Trendacosta Katharine May 3 2016 The Writer of Dragonball Evolution Offers a Sincere Apology to Fans io9 Archived from the original on May 4 2016 Retrieved May 4 2016 Barder Ollie Dragonball Evolution Writer Apologizes To Fans Forbes Archived from the original on September 3 2020 Retrieved October 10 2020 Spike TV Announces Nominees for Screams 2009 Star Trek Bashed Watchmen With 17 Nominations Press release Reuters Spike TV August 31 2009 Archived from the original on September 2 2009 Retrieved September 5 2009 Golden Schmoes Awards 2009 IMDb Archived from the original on June 5 2019 Retrieved March 25 2019 a b Parfitt Orlando March 30 2009 Dragonball Sequels Exclusive Archived from the original on September 3 2020 Retrieved January 14 2018 a b Dragonball Sequel Already Has A Script Screen Rant April 5 2009 Archived from the original on September 3 2020 Retrieved January 14 2018 External links edit nbsp 2000s portal nbsp Anime and manga portal nbsp Film portal nbsp United States portalDragonball Evolution at IMDb Dragonball Evolution at Box Office Mojo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dragonball Evolution amp oldid 1187574487, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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