Dragon Ball Evolution Official Movie Trailer

The official Dragon Ball Evolution trailer is out! Dragon Ball Evolution an upcoming American live-action film adaptation of Dragon Ball to be released in 2009. The story centers around the adventures of the lead character, Goku, from his childhood into adulthood.

The film began development in 2002, and is directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow. It is scheduled for release on April 8, 2009. Actor Justin Chatwin will play as Goku, and James Marsters will be portraying Lord Piccolo. Ernie Hudson also plays Master Mutaito. He's Master Roshi's (Chow Yun Fat) former sensei and the one who sealed Lord Piccolo away for centuries. Ernie Hudson is famous for playing the role of Ghostbuster's Winston Zeddemore. Sealed Piccolo using a ghost trap? :P

Dragonball special effects are being done by Amalgamated Dynamics, while the visual effects are being done by Ollin Studios, Zoic Studios, and Imagine Engine. The film will also have the anime style of fighting in Dragon Ball Z, such as chi energy blasts and auras.

On December 9th, 2008, it was confirmed that the theme song will be Rule by Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki. The choice was because director James Wong wanted the movie adaptation of a manga/anime born in Japan to be sung by a Japanese person and was particularly impressed with Hamasaki. Rule will be used as the theme song for every country's release, including America.

Cast:

Justin Chatwin ... Goku
Joon Park ... Yamcha
Christopher Sabat ... Shenron (voice)
Jamie Chung ... Chi Chi
Emmy Rossum ... Bulma
James Marsters ... Lord Piccolo
Yun-Fat Chow ... Master Roshi
Randall Duk Kim ... Grandpa Gohan
Ernie Hudson ... Master Mutaito
Texas Battle ... Carey Fuller
Eriko Tamura ... Mai
Shavon Kirksey ... Emi
Richard Blake ... Agundas
Luis Arrieta ... Weaver
Julian Sedgwick ... Mr. Kingery


Ayumi Hamasaki's the only trace of the original Dragon Ball in this movie. All of them have been Americanized, unlike this live-action Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (新七龍珠　神龍的傳說, Xīn qī lóng zhū Shén lóng de chuán shuō, or New Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong) released in 1989. I remembered watching this on Betamax :))

So will this be another Michael Bay (Transformers) / JJ Abrams (Star Trek) film? Let's see.