Despite many people (fans and non-fans) saying otherwise, DBZ is adaptable to live-action; it was done three times already, (I checked out those versions on YouTube – the 1991 Taiwanese the version is by far the best) and there’s even a fan film coming out. There will be many more attempts in the future. But we fans would definitely want to see a big-budget, GOOD adaptation. For this, I see three things as vital for DBZ to work in the live-action medium: The first is a good story. This can be considered the easiest part, as whoever writes it would have to follow the basic storyline as seen in the DBZ sagas (TV/manga), and would not be able to deviate too much. If anyone cared to watch DB EVOLUTION, it was not Goku and Chi-Chi in that film but rather Gohan and Videl (a fairly pragmatic thing to do but still contributed to bringing the film down); it was a pathetic attempt and revision to make the story appeal to audiences, who wanted to see the lively badass Goku and not some angsty teenager with a crush (no offence Gohan). I’m actually writing a fan-script, which I hope to show here. I have no delusions, just a hope that it can justify DBZ’s adaptability. The next thing is the set-up. DBZ shares the same genre with STAR WARS, WATCHMEN and LORD OF THE RINGS. The genre of basic fantasy: a whole universe of incredible beings and fantastic sights/deeds/events. Establishing that these worlds actually exist – Middle-Earth and its races; WATCHMEN’s parallel 1980s era; STAR WAR’s galaxy (which legend claims inspired Toriyama) - contributes to making their stories believable and sellable to the audience. The filmmakers need to understand that DBZ is its own world and not the real one and therefore that massive world-building needs to be carried out - in true George Lucas, Peter Jackson and Zack Snyder style (I mention these three as IMHO they did it best) – to bring to life the world of DBZ. If the film can follow a similar setup – an alternate Earth, featuring many races of people and creatures, the coexistence of magic and tech, and a dimensional gateway to different realms (as this link shows: Earth - Dragon Ball Wiki) – then that’s about a third of the battle won. The third bit is the cast. This I admit is the most difficult part, because fans have all sorts of notions about who could play what (I can see Tom Hiddleston as Vegeta and Patrick Stewart as Roshi and Billy Crystal as King Kai, but that’s about it LOL) and we will constantly argue over who should play what, whether it was right, and how it should have been done, etc. - the fandom will be displeased whoever gets cast. The only thing I can say here is that I hope they cast the most accurate people for the roles, accurate in terms of fitting the character and doing them justice. In closing, check out this awesome trailer showcasing Michael Bay’s DBZ! Dragon Ball Z 2012 (Teaser - Trailer) Michael Bay - YouTube It’s just a fan trailer, relax . But Bay’s inimitable style does set things up well. That’s not to say I want him to direct it, the risk is too high that he’d bring in the military to help Goku or make the fighter jets take down Nappa. I’d rather he just stick to producing the film, I’d have, ideally, Matthew Vaughn (who did the fantasy work STAR) handle the directing. What does anyone else think?
well theres one on youtoube made by K&KProducution Dragon Ball Z - Saiyan Saga. there are planing live serries or something big in the future! source: on there FACEBOOK page!
idk. with a high enough budget, taken seriously enough, with out being taken too seriously, and done by the japanese, with an american film size budget, possibly in the same fashion that rurouni kenshin was made. I could see a decent dragon ball z film working. but anime would have to triple in popularity for that to happen anytime soon. Movies like Blood the last vampire; which looked great visually, it just felt chopped down from a 3 hour film, to 90 minutes, are just not given a high enough budget, nor are taken seriously enough. which is WHY i want james cameron to do that Battle Angel movie. so it can become successful, and possibly top Avatar at the box office. that way, suddenly anime will be taken seriously enough for hollywood, when they do attempt another one, to take it more seriously. I think that is the reason why Dragon Ball Evolution failed. it just wasn't taken seriously. and it was given such a low budget, and given to a writer who obviously watched the cartoon here and there, but didn't really watch it regularly. but 15 years ago, i would of said an avengers film couldn't be done. but that was mainly due to super hero films having such low budgets. Look at batman and robin. the studio felt more the need to be able to market it to kids for toys, then to tell a good story. but now we have a LOT of great comic book movies. Dredd, Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, The Amazing Spider-man, The marvel movies, from ironman to the avengers, and now we even have lesser known characters in the works. like Ant Man. I could totally see a dragon ball movie working. as i could totally see any anime show working as a movie. i am just not sure if we can see a good one working now. so we just need a director, with a big enough budget, like sam raimi did with 2002 spiderman. We do not need a perfect film to be the first big successful anime movie. we just need a decent one. a good one. to do well. after that we will have a whole string of them, some good, most will be terrible, for about a decade. but then they will get really good again. and then we will have a studio to possibly have big enough balls to make a decent, high budget, 250 million dollar, Dragon Ball Z movie. it just will take time.
