For the long time, people have been saying that Dragon Ball Z cant be done in live action for the big screen. Others say it cant be profitable, thats its based on a childish cartoon. Currently the only live action adaptation of a Dragon Ball story, is Dragonball Evolution (those idiots even got the title wrong...). Dragonball Evolution had a small budget of $30 Million according to Wikipedia, and raked in over $57 Million, the great majority of it, in the foreign market. The movie was a flop, it wasn't good, and it was nowhere near accurate to its source material.
Another Theater release for this franchise is Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. It had a limited release world wide, but so far had made over $50 Million. For an animated movie that was originally meant to be straight to DVD, and doesn't have top notch animation compared to other movies, and a production budget of $515K according to IMDB, thats not bad at all.
So its safe to say Dragon Ball Z does have a fanbase, there is a market for it, especially the foreign market.
There are fans from the 80s, the 90s, and plenty of new fans thanks in part to DBZ Kai which has been airing since 2009. So DBZ has stayed relevant, and there is a fanbase for it, both adults and young children who watch Kai.
Now with that out of the way, lets get into how it should be made for a live action movie.
First, one of the biggest issues I see with Dragon Ball Z in live action, is the character designs, specifically the Saiyans. They appear to be like humans, but they aren't. This sets an unrealistic expectation for the characters and how they look. Especially the hair style and physique. A Physique like Goku or Vegeta, where they're like chiseled bricks in the form of a humanoid, is not realistic for any actor to try to achieve and maintain through out a franchise. Let alone the physique they'd have when they go Super Saiyan.
So my solution to the character appearances, is to have these characters (The saiyans) be motion captured. It would let the characters have whatever physique they need and allow them to grow during Super Saiyan transformations. It will also allow for a more accurate Saiyan hairstyle. Another advantage to motion capture is that the actor wont have to do rigirous workouts only to fall short of expectations. and you can make the character look however he wants. You can also change the voice actors for certain characters.
A second issue with DBZ is that its story is HUGE so it can be hard to choose what story to start with and which one to continue. So My solution for it would be to have the stories be told in trilogies based on the 3 Sagas. Frieza Saga, Cell Saga, Buu Saga. Each saga having its own Trilogy and sub-sagas within the trilogy (so its 3 Trilogies involving each saga, totaling for 9 movies). Here's what I think the movie Line up Should be like.
Frieza Saga
DBZ: Saiyan
DBZ 2: Namek Saga
DBZ 3: Frieza Saga
Notes: I've thought about Vegeta having his own movie saga, but Namek and frieza saga has a ton of material to work with so I felt the Saiyan Saga should be the the Raddits and Vegata Story arc condensed into 1 movie, with the raddits fight being the begining of the movie, and vegata's battle being in the end.
Cell Saga
DBZ 4: Android Saga
DBZ 5: Android Saga 2
DBZ 6: Cell Games Saga
Note: Android Saga is pretty extensive with Dr. Gero and Android 16, 17, 18, and 19 being in the story arc.
Cell is still the saga, but he remains in background through out most of the android saga until he becomes perfect.
Buu Saga
DBZ 7: Babidi / Majin Buu Saga
DBZ 8: Fusion / Super Buu Saga
DBZ 9: Kid Buu Saga
Note: Each trilogy should be filmed back-to-back-to-back so save on production costs and better resemble the continuity of the story. I also think Broly: TLSS story arc should be done in to a live action movie as well, but there might not be space for that.
Personally, I believe that DBZ done right, could be one of the biggest gold mines in hollywood. The franchise has potential, lots of it. I understand 9 Movies might seem like alot, but there is a lot of material here, and the original show spanned out to over 290 episodes (20-22 minute episodes)
A Third issue is the action and fight scenes. One of the Gripes (out of many) that there were for Dragonball Evolution, is that the action and fighting scenes sucked. If you need an example of super powered action and fighting scenes done right on the big screen, look no further than Man of Steel. One of the strong points for Man of Steel was its actions and fighting scenes, which many fans called DBZesque.
The fourth issue is where it takes place and the world setting. In the original show, Goku lives on earth, but the names of the cities, as well as the setting, was all fictional. Dragonball Evolution tried doing DBZ in a real life modern setting and it was terrible.
If Dragon Ball Z is to be done right on the big screen, it needs to be its fictional setting.
It needs the fictional places like East City, West City, Satan City, and the Papaya Islands.
It needs the fictional setting of Capsule Corp house, vehicles, etc. Its an odd setting indeed, as it appears futuristic in terms of hover cars, but doesn't look futuristic outside of the major cities.
They could do what they did with Dredd to make fictional cities.
I guess the most important point is that they stick close to the source.
And like I mentioned before, DBZ has serious franchise potential.
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