Akira Toriyama Has Worked Passionately to Create a Dragon Ball Movie Unlike Any Other
Source: Toei Animation Co., Ltd. press release
Special Thanks to Scott Barretto
#DBSuperMovie
Photo courtesy of Toei Animation. ©BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION
Fans worldwide received a special surprise this Goku Day, the annual Dragon Ball celebration, when Toei Animation revealed today that a new DRAGON BALL SUPER movie will be released in 2022. The Dragon Ball phenomena began in 1984 when Japan’s well-known manga from Akira Toriyama premiered in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump – becoming a top ranked title throughout its 10 and a half years of publication. Since then, the manga’s popularity has continued to grow with an astonishing record of 260 million copies sold worldwide and counting. And with Dragon Ball’s ever-increasing popularity, it has expanded beyond manga to include TV animation, movies, games and merchandising. Now 37 years after the launch of the original manga, Dragon Ball continues to evolve and will reach new heights starting with this new large-scale movie.
The new release will be the second film based on DRAGON BALL SUPER, the manga title and the anime series which launched in 2015. The first such movie was the 2018 release DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY which was a smash hit with audiences – setting a worldwide box office record of over $120 million.
Planning for the new film project was kicked-off in 2018, before the release of DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY, with the goal of telling a large-scale story that would build on the enthusiastic response for the previous theatrical series and the current global fervor for BROLY. Akira Toriyama himself has picked up his pen to deliver a fascinating story that fans desire. From the magnificent story composition to character design to the lines of the script, Toriyama has worked passionately with the greatest attention to detail and highest quality standards – creating a Dragon Ball movie unlike any other in its history and one that will surely be a blockbuster with fans.
As part of today’s announcement, Akira Toriyama, creator of the original story, screenplay, and character design, wrote a special message to Dragon Ball fans. A signed copy of this message is available here.
Fans are encouraged to follow Toei Animation and the hashtag #DBSuperMovie on social media for the latest movie news and information in the months ahead.
About Toei Animation Co., Ltd.
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (Jasdaq:4816) ranks amongst the world’s most prolific animation production studios. The company’s operations include animation development and production, and worldwide marketing and program licensing with sales offices in Los Angeles, Paris, Hong Kong and representative office in Shanghai. Since its founding in 1956, Toei Animation Co., Ltd. has produced more than 12,683 episodes of TV series (more than 222 titles) and more than 242 long feature films. For more information, please visit corp.toei-anim.co.jp/en.
About Toei Animation Inc.
Based in Los Angeles, Toei Animation Inc. manages the film and TV series distribution of Toei Animation’s top properties – some of the world’s biggest anime franchises including Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Digimon, Saint Seiya and many others – to North America, Latin America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, within these territories, Toei Animation Inc. handles all categories of consumer product licensing based on Toei Animation’s film and television brands. For more information, please visit toei-animation-usa.com.
About Toei Animation Europe SAS
Based in Paris, Toei Animation Europe is in charge of the films distribution and merchandising exploitation of Toei Animation’s animated series portfolio in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Among its most famous series: Captain Harlock, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, and One Piece. For more information, please visit toei-animation.com.
About Toei Animation Enterprises Ltd.
Based in Hong Kong, Toei Animation Enterprise Ltd. is responsible for the program licensing of Toei Animation-produced series to Asia. We also handle all categories of consumer product licensing based on its film and television properties within these territories. For more information, please visit toei-anim.com.