List of Dragon Ball films

'' Dragon Ball'' is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. Since 1986, there have been 24 theatrical films based on the franchise, including twenty-one anime films produced by Toei Animation, two unofficial films and one official live-action film.

Background

Original run (1986–1996)

During the franchise's original broadcast run (1986-1997), Toei produced ''Dragon Ball'' films rapidly, often two a year to match the Japanese spring and summer vacations. Seventeen films were produced in this period—three ''Dragon Ball'' films from 1986 to 1988, thirteen ''Dragon Ball Z'' films from 1989 to 1995, and finally a tenth anniversary film that was released in 1996 and adapted the Red Ribbon arc of the original series. These films have a running time below feature length (around 45–60 minutes each) except for the 1996 film, at 80 minutes. These films were mostly alternate retellings of certain story arcs involving new characters or extra side-stories that do not correlate with the same continuity as the manga or TV series.

These were generally screened back to back with other Toei films for that season as special theatrical events in Japan. The first through fifth films were shown at the , while the sixth through seventeenth films were shown at the . By 1996, the first sixteen anime films up until '' Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon'' (1995) had sold 50million tickets and grossed over () at the Japanese box office, making it the highest-grossing anime film series up until then, in addition to selling over 500,000 home video units in Japan.

While the majority of these films were only screened in Japan, ''The Return of Cooler'' (1992) and ''Fusion Reborn'' (1995) were both screened in the United States in 2006 to promote ''Fusion Reborns dubbed DVD release that year.

Live-action film (2009)

A single live-action adaptation of the series was released in 2009, ''Dragonball Evolution''. The film only vaguely adapted elements from the franchise and made worldwide, against a production cost of . It received a 15% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 3.5/10, amid whitewashing. A number of sequels to ''Evolution'' were planned—with lead Justin Chatwin signed on for three films. He expressed interest in seven films in interview. However due to the film’s failure, none of these sequels were ever produced. The rights to any further live action films are currently owned by the Walt Disney Company, after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox.

''Evolution'' remains the only licensed live-action film, though two unlicensed films were released in the early 1990s.

Animated revival (2013–present)

The franchise returned with '' Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods'' (2013), the first animated film since 1996, and the first produced with Toriyama's involvement. The film—a sequel to the original series—became the franchise's most successful at the time. Unlike the classic event circuit films, those from 2013 onwards were developed with an international theatrical release planned from the beginning, under 20th Century Fox, now owned by The Walt Disney Company. ''Battle of Gods'' was followed by '' Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F''' in 2015. The second film introduced Jaco to ''Dragon Ball'', a character which had debuted in Toriyama's spin-off manga ''Jaco the Galactic Patrolman'' in 2013. These two movies were adapted by the ''Dragon Ball Super'' TV series, with the plotlines from the two films forming multi-episode arcs early in the show's broadcast.

Later movies would adopt the ''Super'' moniker, beginning with '' Dragon Ball Super: Broly'' (2018) which grossed more than worldwide, and is—as of June 2020— the 12th highest-grossing anime film of all time. The most recently released two films, ''Resurrection 'F and ''Broly'', both hold an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A second ''Super'' film, '' Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero'', was released in 2022.

Films

Animated

Live-action

Reception

In commemoration of the release of the 20th film, an official online poll asked 6,000 Japanese fans to pick their favorite film in the franchise. The top five films were (from first to fifth): '' Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn'', ''Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods'', '' Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan'', ''Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F''', '' Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler''.

Box office performance

Home video sales

Critical response

Notes

References

External links

*
Dragon Ball
' on IMDb

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20th Century Studios franchises
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