Toei Animation, a leading Japanese animation house with a seven-decade history, has announced the release of a new “Dragon Ball Super” movie in 2022.
Based on a comic by Toriyama Akira that debuted in the “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine in 1984 and has sold 260 million paperback copies worldwide, the “Dragon Ball” franchise has long been a money spinner for Toei, with TV anime, films, games and merchandise in the mix.
The new film is the second based on “Dragon Ball Super,” a sequel to the original Dragon Ball manga that debuted in both manga and anime form in 2015. The first film, “Dragon Ball Super Broly,” directed by Nagamine Tatsuya and scripted by Toriyama, earned $120 million worldwide following its December 2018 release in Japan.
In a statement Toriyama said he is “heavily leading the story and dialogue production for another amazing film.” “We’ll be charting through some unexplored territory in terms of the visual aesthetics to give the audience an amazing ride,” he added.
The “Dragon Ball” series and its assorted sequels and spinoffs follow the adventures of Son Goku AKA Goku, a boy based on a main character in the ancient Chinese epic “Journey to the West.” Using martial arts skills and superpowers, Goku battles a long list of baddies from various corners of the universe. In the “Dragon Ball Super” story arc, he attains godlike powers to fight Beerus, the God of Destruction, and his allies with the help of his similarly super-powered friends. “Be prepared for some extreme and entertaining bouts,” Toriyama says in his statement.