Line #18 Trivia/DragonballEvolution


1	* AshcanCopy: Fox had sat on the rights to a ''Franchise/DragonBall'' movie for seven years, unable to put a creative team together. As the 2008 Writer's Strike loomed on the horizon, they cobbled together a script and a modest budget, hoping to make the most of what they could with the time they had. Filming was so cheap they ended up filming in an abandoned blue jeans factory in Durango, Mexico.
2	-->'''Creator/JamesMarsters:''' Yeah, [[BlatantLies they told me it was a $120 million picture]] and that Creator/StephenChow was producing. So I get to Durango and it's a $30 million picture and Stephen Chow was just on paper to fool us into getting down to Durango. Creator/ChowYunFat and I were cursing in the desert over this like, "SON OF A BITCH!"
3	* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget: $30 million. Box office: $9,362,785 (domestic), $57,497,699 (worldwide). Being panned by critics and ''especially'' fans over [[InNameOnly being almost as far removed from the source material as humanly possible]], along with [[DumpMonths being released in April]] [[InvisibleAdvertising with poor marketing]], severely damaged its box office numbers.
4	* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: ''The Hollywood Reporter'''s review opened with the following informed line.
5	-->''"Another Japanese manga bites the dust with its cinematic adaptation: in this case, the 'Dragonball Evolution' series."''
6	* CreatorBacklash:
7	** Creator/JamesMarsters admitted that he believed the final product wasn't very good.
8	** Likewise, Emmy Rossum also went on record bashing the film, saying that it's even worse when watching it stoned and that her only saving graces during production were meeting Creator/JustinChatwin and buying and watching the full series of ''Series/NipTuck'' on DVD.
9	** Writer Ben Ramsey went as far as [[https://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/news/dragonball-evolution-writer-apologizes-to-fans/ formally apologizing for the film]], calling it a very painful creative point in his life.
10	** When Creator/AkiraToriyama passed away in 2024, Justin Chatwin posted a brief tribute on his Instagram that ended with "Sorry we messed up that adaptation so badly".
11	* CreatorKiller: After the poor reception of this film, James Wong hasn't directed a single film since and has been relegated to producing television shows instead.
12	* CreatorsApathy: Writer Ben Ramsey admitted in a 2016 apology letter to have gone into the film "as a businessman" and "not a fan" of ''Franchise/DragonBall''; whether this means he was a fan and just didn't care or he was not a fan at all isn't entirely clear.
13	* DawsonCasting: Joon Park (Yamcha) is older than Creator/EmmyRossum (Bulma) by ''17 years.''
14	* DisownedAdaptation:
15	** Creator/AkiraToriyama first showed what could be read as professionally polite disappointment over the film, stating that it should be taken as an "AlternateUniverse" ''Manga/DragonBall''. However, after the film was released and by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', he had since clarified his stance: despite offering advice to the crew on how to adapt the series, they never listened to him, and thus the finished product was a disaster and something he couldn't call ''Dragon Ball'' at all. Ironically enough, the film that ''Dragon Ball'' fans love to hate was ultimately responsible for getting ''Akira Toriyama'', a ''notoriously'' apathetic creator, to actually care about the franchise he started. Had he not been so leery of other people's treatment of his work after ''Evolution'', he might never have taken charge of ''Battle of Gods'' after seeing the initial DarkerAndEdgier script treatment, and neither ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' nor ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' would ever have existed.
16	** The English voice actors for the ''Dragon Ball'' anime series have also publicly denounced the film, accusing the filmmakers of having no knowledge of the source material whatsoever. Most notably, Creator/ChristopherSabat and Creator/SeanSchemmel [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9PM8kEr0xg spent almost three minutes poking fun at the movie]] at a convention, to the amusement of fans. Creator/ChrisRager (voice of Mr. Satan) also said the film felt like it gave him "ass rabies".
17	** Despite returning to voice Piccolo for the Latin American Spanish dub of ''Evolution'', Creator/CarlosSegundo was unimpressed with how his character was handled.
18	** Creator/WendelBezerra, the Brazilian voice of Goku, said that when he watched the movie in his duties as dubbing director, his disappointment was as high as that of the fans.
19	** A film so bad that Creator/JustinChatwin [[https://nordic.ign.com/dragonball-evolution/79949/news/live-action-goku-actor-pays-tribute-to-akira-toriyama-by-apologizing-for-dragonball-evolution apologized]] for it.
20	* ExecutiveMeddling: Many of the changes were presumably added in due to Fox's meddling, especially considering their track record in other films. We'll never know how much was dictated to be there, and how much the writers came up with themselves though. One of the particularly nasty changes they wanted? To make Piccolo a handsome human man. Creator/JamesMarsters would not have this and demanded [[JustForFun/OneOfUs he'd be like the original]].
21	* FriendshipOnTheSet: According to Emmy Rossum, her and Justin Chatwin [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2009-04-10/6 developed]] a friendship LikeBrotherAndSister on set.
22	* GenreKiller: While ''Film/SpeedRacer'' the year before wasn't very successful, this is the film that everyone pinpoints as the reason why Western adaptations of anime and manga are generally expected to fail at the box office nowadays (So much so that many were shocked when ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' not only became a modest box office hit, but also a critical success with the audience).
23	* MoneyDearBoy: Ben Ramsey admitted as much and apologized to fans when reached by an interviewer. "So I’m not blaming anyone for ''Dragonball'' but myself," he said. "As a fanboy of other series, I know what it’s like to have something you love and anticipate be so disappointing."
24	%%* NotScreenedForCritics:
25	* PromotedFanboy: Producer Creator/StephenChow is a big fan of ''Dragon Ball'', and signed on to the film immediately. He was deeply interested in being the director, but decided to just serve as producer because he believed in directing only his own original stories.
26	* RealLifeRelative: Creator/CarlaCastaneda, the daughter of Goku's Latin American VA Creator/MarioCastaneda, provided the voice for Bulma in ''Evolution'''s Latin American Spanish dub.
27	* RecursiveImport: Believe it or not, the film received a Japanese release. Notable things about it include Creator/AyaHirano, one of the dub voice actors, would later join the cast of the actual anime as the [[TheOtherDarrin Kai voice of Dende]] and is the first time in a Japanese production where [[Creator/KappeiYamaguchi a male actor]] would voice Goku.
28	* RoleReprise:
29	** In the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/MarioCastaneda and Creator/CarlosSegundo reprise their respective roles as Goku and Piccolo.
30	** The Brazilian Portuguese dub brings back just about everyone aside from Master Roshi, Mai and Grandpa Gohan.
31	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Was reportedly stuck in this for a while. The movie was announced in 2002, the domain name "dragonballthemovie.com" had been registered by Fox back in 2003, but work didn't begin on it until 2007.
32	* ShortRunInPeru: Despite being an American movie, it was released in Japan a month before the United States.
33	* StarDerailingRole: This film effectively killed Creator/JustinChatwin's film career, not just by being a disaster of a film, but because [[QuestionableCasting his casting]] was and still is one of the film's most controversial elements.
34	* StillbornFranchise: Despite its obvious SequelHook, its reception among fans and critics as well as its box office intake assures that no sequels will be materializing anytime soon (ironically, its failure was the impetus to resurrect the source material).
35	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Ben Ramsey's original script was apparently a ''much'' more faithful adaptation of the series. But once it was out of Ramsey's hands, ''changes'' were made.
36	** In an ironic twist on the whole matter, there are some sources which say that Wong added in elements that made the film ''more'' like the comic than the initial script. Which means...somehow...it could have actually been ''worse''. The original script was found [[http://thedaoofdragonball.com/pdfs/dragonball-evolution-original-script.pdf here]] and has alternate versions of the Namekians, Pilaf, Krillin, Puar, Suno, and Oolong, though it also adds a convoluted backstory involving an in-universe popular gaming franchise based on their real world battles with Piccolo.
37	** Emmy Rossum was originally going to wear a short blue wig as Bulma, but it was ditched after a costume test as both she and the director hated how it looked. A pink wig was also said to have been tested.
38	** While James Marsters was without a doubt one of the most praised things about the film, Creator/RonPerlman was the original choice. He turned down the role because he was busy with ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy.''
39	** Piccolo was originally going to look more human. James Marsters, being a fan of the series ([[ConvertedFanboy or more accurately, becoming one while studying his character]]), [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks knew this wouldn't go over well with fans]], so when the director left the set one day, he had make-up applied behind his back. Thankfully, the director [[ThrowItIn went with it]].
40	** [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonball/images/f/ff/Oozaru_hiphopargento.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100325191634 The Oozaru was originally going to look different.]] Early models show the Oozaru looking more like a mix between [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Groot]] and [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings an Orc]]. However, in the final product, it looked more monkey-like, like in the series.
41	** Creator/GeorgeLucas was considered to direct this film back in 2002. Creator/RobertRodriguez and Creator/ZackSnyder were also offered the job.
42	** When the movie started development back in 2002, there were two polls for whom fans wanted to play Goku and Vegeta (with Creator/JetLi winning as Goku and Creator/JackieChan as Vegeta). That implies that the movie was originally going to adapt the Saiyan Saga.
43	** When the movie began filming, it was originally titled ''Anime/DragonBallZ.'' It was later changed to just ''Dragon Ball,'' presumably because this film loosely adapted the Piccolo arc from the ''Dragon Ball'' era. It was finally changed to ''Dragonball Evolution'' to signify that it was different from the source material.
44	** In regards to a sequel, Creator/JustinChatwin was actually very enthusiastic in the plans for it would be far more faithful to the source material, even stating "Goku only really gets interesting in the second movie". As it would adapt the Saiyan Saga, it namely featured Goku and Chi-Chi getting married years later and having Gohan, Krillin being introduced as a new friend to Goku and Co. from the Tenkaichi Temple, and Vegeta and Nappa being the main villains when legend of the Dragon Balls reached out into deep space and they came to Earth in search of them. Piccolo would also return as an antihero, supposedly "purified" of his wickedness by the Kamehameha and would become an unlikely ally, something Creator/JamesMarsters was eager to see fulfilled.
45	** For a while it was rumored that Christopher Sabat would reprise his role as Shenron the Eternal Dragon when he appears in the film's climax, but in the end the dragon remains mute.

Context Trivia / DragonballEvolution