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95-557: Dragonball Evolution is a 2009 American superhero film directed by James Wong , produced by Stephen Chow , and written by Ben Ramsey . It is loosely based on the Japanese Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama , and stars Justin Chatwin , Emmy Rossum , James Marsters , Jamie Chung , Chow Yun-fat , Joon Park , and Eriko Tamura . In the film, the teenager Goku reveals his past and sets out to fight

190-477: A sequel , Barb Wire (1996), The Phantom (1996), Black Mask (1996), Chouriki Sentai Ohranger: Ole vs. Kakuranger (1996), Revive! Ultraman (1996), Gekisou Sentai Carranger vs. Ohranger (1997) and Steel (1997). Marvel Comics ' Captain America (1991) did not have a theatrical release , and Roger Corman 's The Fantastic Four (1994) was produced solely for the legal maintenance of

285-529: A 2009 interview with IGN , James Marsters , who played King Piccolo , said that he had signed on for three films and expressed interest in making as many as seven, stating that his character "only really gets interesting in the second film". Justin Chatwin commented that subsequent films would feature elements from the Dragon Ball Z portion of the franchise, likely delving further into his Saiyan origins, and introducing Gohan and Vegeta , which he felt

380-406: A Shakespearean sense of good and evil." Summarizing the original concept of his Piccolo, he said the character was "thousands of years old and a very long time ago he used to be a force of good, but [he] got into a bad argument and was put into prison for 2000 years. It got him very angry, and he finds a way to escape and then tries to destroy the world." Originally, Piccolo was going to be depicted as

475-404: A blast that you can turn this movie into the gateway kung-fu drug that makes them want to watch the earlier work of Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-Fat, that is if Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-fat had a Caucasian actor in the starring role." Jeffrey K. Lyles of The Gazette found the film to be "a fairly entertaining martial arts adventure for the younger audiences" and tolerable to adults. He felt Chatwin

570-422: A faithful CGI representation of the ethereal powers as drawn in the original manga" and that the climax offers an "impressive character twist for Goku that will warm the cockles of every young Jungian 's heart." Luke Thompson of E! Online referred to the film as a "surreal mess" that would only make sense to fans of the original series. He questioned the use of a Caucasian in the main role and felt Chow Yun-Fat

665-548: A final battle, seemingly defeating him with the Kamehameha Wave. Goku then uses the Dragonballs to summon Shenron, restoring Roshi back to life. As the group celebrates, Bulma declares that the Dragonballs have scattered, and that they must search for them again. Before heading out, Goku meets with Chi-Chi and apologizes for knocking her unconscious, and they begin a sparring match. In a mid-credits scene , Piccolo

760-465: A handsome creature, but Marsters and the make-up artist chose to give him a decrepit complexion to reflect his having been trapped for thousands of years stewing in his evil and thirst for vengeance. The first time the make-up was applied, it took seventeen hours and left Marsters with difficulty breathing. In subsequent applications, it generally only took four hours. Stephen Chow originally wanted to cast Zhang Yuqi , with whom he worked on CJ7 , for

855-578: A local multi-player battle mode, production stills, and storyboards from the film. The Hong Kong-based company Enterbay produced a 1:6-scaled line for Dragonball Evolution . A 1:6 Goku figure was made along with Lord Piccolo. Bulma was planned to be the third figure of the series in addition to being the first female figure Enterbay has ever released. Prototypes of the Bulma figure were shown on Enterbay's blog but in November 2010, Enterbay confirmed that Bulma

950-558: A negative effect on future anime-to-cinema adaptations, due to its casting, lack of loyalty to the source material, and failure at the box office. Two thousand years ago, the Namekian King Piccolo came to Earth and wreaked havoc. Seven mystics were able to seal Piccolo away using a powerful enchantment called the Mafuba. However, he breaks free in present day, and with his ninja -like henchwoman Mai , begins searching for

1045-490: A new Mafuba enchantment to reseal Piccolo, while Chi-Chi helps Goku in his training to learn the most powerful of the ki-bending techniques: the Kamehameha Wave. That night, Mai arrives having used Chi-Chi's blood to assume her appearance. Unable to tell Mai from Chi-Chi, Goku accidentally knocks out Chi-Chi and is shot by Mai, who steals the team's Dragonballs. Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, and Roshi go in pursuit of Mai and Piccolo. Having acquired all seven Dragonballs, Piccolo arrives at

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1140-663: A particular superhero character, often focuses on the hero's origin story and typically introduces the hero's nemesis. Many superhero films are adaptations of existing works. Superhero comics from publishers such as Marvel , DC , and Dark Horse ( The Umbrella Academy universe) have frequently been adapted into film. Others are based on television properties, such as films from the Japanese Ultraman , Kamen Rider , and Super Sentai franchises. Both Underdog and The Powerpuff Girls are based on their respective animated television series. The Green Hornet

1235-461: A producer because he believes that he should only direct stories he had created. Differing costs to produce the film have been reported. In January 2008, Marsters spoke to TV Guide that he was told the film had a budget of approximately $ 100 million. In April 2009, the Spanish television station Telecinco reported that the budget was $ 50 million. Marsters would later claim that the film in fact

1330-576: A sequel, noting "their dynamic in the anime's just too good not to use in this movie. If the studio knew better, they'd already have people lined up for auditions". However, the film's poor commercial and critical performance caused any planned sequels to be canceled. Superhero film A superhero film is a genre centered on superheroes and their adventures, with characters often possessing superhuman abilities or exceptional skills. Superhero films typically blend elements of action , adventure , fantasy , or science fiction . The first film about

1425-550: A singer could repeat an aria, but fell out of favor in the 1920s due to rising emphasis on dramatic storytelling rather than vocal performance. The first general release film to feature a post-credits scene is The Silencers , released in March 1966. The scene depicts lead character Matt Helm (played by Dean Martin ) lying shirtless on what appears to be a rotating sofa along with 10 scantily-clad women. He kisses two women before rubbing his face and muttering, "Oh my god." During

1520-523: A week later on March 31, 2009, by Viz was a 22-page Dragonball: Evolution Posterzine featuring eleven posters, cast interviews, and merchandise previews. On January 19, 2009, Namco Bandai Games and Fox announced a tie-in PSP video game , which was released in Japan on March 19 and North America on April 7. The game includes all of the major characters from the film and features various playing modes, including

1615-422: Is EarthBound , in which the main character receives a message that a main villain has escaped. A game may contain a scene or voiceover after the credits, of one or more characters speaking, revealing new information that gives a new perspective to the previous events as well as setting up part of the next game in the series. As the credits for modern games get longer, added cut scenes that maintain interest during

1710-407: Is also currently the lowest-rated film on Letterboxd , with a 0.9 rating as of August 19th, 2024. Before the film's release, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama expressed surprise at Dragonball Evolution and suggested fans treat it as an alternate universe version of his work. In a 2013 interview with Asahi Shimbun , Toriyama revealed that he had felt the script did not "capture the world or

1805-470: Is also still common for more serious films, as in the film Daredevil , in which Bullseye is shown after his defeat by Daredevil in a full body cast. Other films eschew the comedy in favor of a twist or revelation that would be out of place elsewhere in the film, as in X-Men: The Last Stand ' s post-credits scene in which Professor X is shown to be alive after his apparent death by

1900-549: Is based primarily on the original radio series and its 1960s television adaptation . Anime superhero films are often based on manga and television shows . Some superhero films, like the RoboCop series, The Meteor Man , the Unbreakable film series , Hancock , Darkman and They Call Me Jeeg , were developed as original projects for the screen. According to box office income figures from Box Office Mojo ,

1995-457: Is revealed to be alive and treated by a mysterious woman. In 1995, Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan , who was a fan of the series, had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a live-action film. However, he said it would require "a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget." When asked about the casting for main protagonist Goku in 2013, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama said that "nobody came to mind" for

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2090-411: Is to fulfill contractual obligations. In order to secure the personality rights to produce The Disaster Artist , a biopic of Tommy Wiseau , the filmmakers were obligated to include a cameo by Wiseau himself. This scene was filmed, but relegated to the post-credits sequence of the film. Video games , particularly those with complex stories, sometimes also use post-credits scenes. An early example

2185-634: The Ultraman Tiga TV series led to several films based on it and later installments, including Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light (1998), Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace (1999) and Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey (2000). Adam Sternbergh of Vulture.com has stated that The Matrix (1999) was influenced by comic books, cyberpunk fiction, Japanese anime , and Hong Kong action films , reinvented

2280-420: The Dragon Ball manga, the futuristic cities and flying vehicles were kept; however, the anthropomorphic creatures and talking animals (such as Turtle , Oolong , Puar , Shu , and Korin ) were dropped. Many of the locations are very Oriental , and there was some Aztec influence too, particularly from their temples. It was thought that Rossum would wear a blue wig to resemble her manga counterpart, but it

2375-562: The French political satire film Mr. Freedom (1969), the Polish parody Hydrozagadka (1970), and the American B movies Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966) and The Wild World of Batwoman (1966). Following the success of Star Wars which increased interest in fantasy and science fiction films, Richard Donner 's Superman (1978), the first major big-budget DC feature film,

2470-642: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The MCU alone has earned over $ 31 billion. The MCU film Avengers: Endgame (2019) is the highest-grossing superhero film to date, grossing $ 2,797,501,328 worldwide. It briefly held the record for highest-grossing film of all time before being surpassed by Avatar . Superhero stories gained popularity through comic books and were later adapted into film serials . Early examples include Mandrake

2565-845: The 1980s include Denshi Sentai Denziman: The Movie (1980), Flash Gordon (1980), Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan: The Movie (1981), Dai Sentai Goggle V: The Movie (1982), Swamp Thing (1982), Kagaku Sentai Dynaman: The Movie (1983), its sequel , Superman III (1983), Choudenshi Bioman: The Movie (1984), Supergirl (1984), Ultraman Zoffy: Ultra Warriors vs. the Giant Monster Army (1984), Ultraman Story (1984), Dengeki Sentai Changeman: The Movie and Dengeki Sentai Changeman: Shuttle Base! The Critical Moment! (1985), The Toxic Avenger (1985), Choushinsei Flashman: The Movie (1986), Choushinsei Flashman: Big Rally! Titan Boy! (1987), Hikari Sentai Maskman: The Movie (1987), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Masters of

2660-453: The 1990 episode Rocket Attack U.S.A. , continuing until the end of the series. With few exceptions, they highlighted moments from the films that were either particularly nonsensical or had simply caught the writers' attention. Stingers lacking the metafictional aspects also gained prominence in the 1980s, although they were still primarily used for comedy films. Post-credits scenes became useful places for humorous scenes that would not fit in

2755-438: The 2012 summer film market, with three films occupying the top three positions of the box office chart. These were Marvel's The Avengers (May 2012), which broke box office records as the highest-grossing superhero film of all time, The Dark Knight Rises (July 20, 2012), and The Amazing Spider-Man (July 12, 2012). Post-credits scene Sometimes, one or more mid-credits scenes are also inserted partly through

2850-440: The 2014 Wizard World Convention, actor James Marsters expressed feelings that he was misled about Dragonball: Evolution , claiming, "they told me it was a $ 120 million picture, and that Stephen Chow was producing. And I get out to Durango, Mexico and it's a $ 30 million picture and Stephen Chow is just on paper to fool us down into the desert. And they don't even want to pay for the stuntman to get made up like me, so they never used

2945-660: The Dragon Temple and begins to summon Shenron , but is stopped by the timely arrival of Goku's team. During the ensuing battle, Piccolo reveals to Goku that he is his minion, Ōzaru the Great Ape, having been sent to Earth as an infant to destroy it. As the solar eclipse transforms Goku into Ōzaru. Roshi attempts to use the Mafuba on Piccolo, but he doesn't have enough energy allowing Piccolo to break free. Ōzaru chokes Roshi to death, but his dying words enable Goku to fight back Ōzaru and restore to himself. He engages Piccolo in

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3040-580: The Dragonballs. Goku then meets Bulma of the Capsule Corporation, who has invented a device that locates the Dragonballs. Goku offers Bulma protection in exchange for helping him find Roshi. After finding him in Paozu City, Roshi joins their search and begins helping Goku master his ki . During their search for another Dragonball, they fall into a trap set by the desert bandit Yamcha , whom Roshi convinces to join them by promising some of

3135-572: The Magician (1939), The Shadow (1940), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Batman (1943), The Phantom (1943), Captain America (1944), and Superman (1948). Between 1941 and 1943, Fleischer Studios produced a series of animated short films based on the Superman comic book . In the following decades, the decline of Saturday matinee showings of serials along with turmoil in

3230-591: The Three-Headed Monster (1964). By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s". Donald F. Glut wrote that Godzilla was "the most universally popular superhero of 1977." The year 1966 saw the debut of the Ultra Series with the kaiju TV show Ultra Q . However, with the release of

3325-476: The United States and Canada of $ 9,362,785 and an international gross of $ 47,148,672 for a combined worldwide box office gross of $ 56,511,457. The film opened with its competitors— Hannah Montana: The Movie and Fast & Furious (the latter in its second weekend). On its opening weekend in the United States, the film grossed $ 4,756,488 from 2,181 sites. Box Office Mojo described this as "paltry", and

3420-562: The United States on March 17, 2009, by Varèse Sarabande . The score was composed by Brian Tyler , who recorded the score with an 82-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox . The score was met with positive reviews from music critics, who drew comparisons to Tyler's previous works. A film novelization , Dragonball Evolution: The Junior Novel ,

3515-788: The Universe (1987), Bollywood 's Mr. India (1987), Ultraman: The Adventure Begins (1987), Kousoku Sentai Turboranger: The Movie (1989), and The Punisher (1989). The success of Tim Burton 's Batman (1989) and its direct follow-up, Batman Returns (1992), spawned the DC Animated Universe . Superhero movies from the 1990s include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its two sequels , RoboCop 2 (1990), Darkman (1990), Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue (1992), RoboCop 3 (1993),

3610-408: The Universe (1987), Skeletor's head emerges from the water at the bottom of the pit, saying "I'll be back!" The Muppet Movie also began a trend of using such scenes to break the fourth wall , even when much of the rest of the film had kept it intact. The scenes were often used as a form of metafiction , with characters showing an awareness that they were at the end of a film, and sometimes telling

3705-560: The animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Kamen Rider ZO (1993), Kamen Rider J (1994), Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Movie , The Shadow (1994), The Mask (1994), Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: The Movie (1994), Blankman (1994), Chouriki Sentai Ohranger: The Movie (1995), Batman Forever (1995), Judge Dredd (1995), Tank Girl (1995), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) and

3800-470: The audience directly to leave the theatre. Films using this technique include Ferris Bueller's Day Off (in which the title character frequently breaks the fourth wall during the film) and the musical remake of The Producers . The post-credits scene in the latter film also includes a cameo appearance by Producers screenwriter Mel Brooks . Post-credits scenes also appeared on the long-running television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 , introduced in

3895-518: The characteristics" of his series and was "bland" and not interesting, so he cautioned and gave suggestions for changes. But the Hollywood producers did not heed his advice, "And just as I thought, the result was a movie I cannot call Dragon Ball ." Discussing the film in 2016's 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Chōshishū - Super History Book , Toriyama wrote: "I had put Dragon Ball behind me, but seeing how much that live-action film ticked me off..." At

Dragonball Evolution - Misplaced Pages Continue

3990-412: The closing credit, typically for the purpose of maintaining the audience's attention so they don't have to wait for the entire credit roll to finish for a teaser. Post-credits scenes may have their origins in encores , an additional performance added to the end of staged shows in response to audience applause. Opera encores were common practice in the 19th century, when the story was often interrupted so

4085-600: The comic book industry slowed superhero motion picture production, with the exception of Superman and the Mole Men (1951) starring George Reeves , and Batman (1966), a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West . Superman and the Mole Men served as a pilot for the TV series Adventures of Superman . Compilations of the series were later released theatrically. In 1957, Shintoho produced

4180-567: The concept of " faster than a speeding bullet " on-screen. Inspector Gadget and Mystery Men would then follow to close out the decade for the sub-genre. Following the success of the Kamen Rider Kuuga television series, a new era of the Kamen Rider franchise began. This led to the production of annual Kamen Rider movies, starting with Kamen Rider Agito: Project G4 in 2001. The release of Iron Man in 2008 laid

4275-432: The credits during the main action of the film. In this example, the characters perform a song in the last minutes of the film, and the credits run inconspicuously until one character sings the line "the movie is over/but we're still on screen". The Marvel Cinematic Universe has made extensive use of mid- and post-credits scenes (often both) which typically serve as a teaser for a future Marvel Studios film. For example,

4370-471: The credits, Animal yells at the audience to "GO HOME!" before sighing "buh-bye" and passing out from exhaustion. The use of such scenes gained popularity throughout the 1980s at the end of comedy films. In 1980, Airplane! ended with a callback to an abandoned taxicab passenger who was not a primary character. Enhanced application continued in 1985 with Young Sherlock Holmes (see below); in Masters of

4465-488: The ending of the supernatural horror film Annabelle: Creation (2017), where we see a post-credits clip set in Romania, 1952 and see the character of Valak , the demon nun from The Conjuring 2 (2016) gliding towards the viewer before it darkens, teasing the spin-off prequel The Nun (2018). Some films, including Richard Linklater 's School of Rock , take the idea of the post-credits scene to its limit by running

4560-423: The evil alien warlord Lord Piccolo who wishes to gain the powerful Dragon Balls and use them to take over Earth. The film began development in 2002 and was distributed by 20th Century Fox . It is the first official live-action adaptation of the Dragon Ball series. Dragonball Evolution was released in Japan and several other Asian countries on March 13, 2009, and in the United States on April 10, 2009. The film

4655-465: The film The Cannonball Run , bloopers from the film are shown. One of the stars in that picture, Jackie Chan , later featured outtakes during the credits of many of his films, often showing him getting injured doing his own stunts. Even when post-credits scenes started to be used by films with little comedy development, the same format of giving closure to incomplete storylines or inconsequential characters remained in use. Using humor in such scenes

4750-585: The film in conjunction with another viral campaign that encouraged fans to send in their renditions of the fighting move. The film was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on July 28 and on Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on August 31. The Region 4 DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released in Australia on November 18. The film had a gross earning in

4845-420: The film rights to the property and was therefore not released theatrically or on home video . Alex Proyas ' The Crow (1994) became the first independent comic superhero film to establish a franchise. The film introduced a level of violence not seen in previous superhero films targeted at younger audiences and bridged a gap to the more modern action film . The success of The Crow may have influenced

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4940-456: The film was uninspired and also felt it had dull "high school movie banter" dialog and was "cliché-ridden". The Village Voice ' s Aaron Hillis called the film a "loony live-action adaptation", but felt it was "more entertaining than it deserves to be" and would likely appeal to ten-year-old boys. Alonso Duralde of MSNBC found the film to be "both entertainingly ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining" and noted that "kids will have such

5035-439: The film's release, eventually gave the movie a negative rating and capitulated that "the fans were right." He also criticized its poor explanation of plot elements, hackneyed storyline, and lackluster effort by the actors. Variety 's Russell Edwards found the film "passable", "pleasing if paint-by-numbers", noting it "doesn't take itself too seriously, but avoids campiness", that "the climactic clash between Piccolo and Goku offers

5130-474: The final release date being April 10. The marketing of the theatrical release included a viral "personal expressions" campaign created by digital agency Red Box New Media that ran on the Windows Live Messenger application. Alongside that campaign, Fox hired Picture Production Company to develop a PC / Wii flash game under the name Can you Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha? This game was released just before

5225-574: The first film serial featuring the tokusatsu superhero character, Super Giant , signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture toward masked superheroes in tokusatsu . Along with Astro Boy , the Super Giant film series greatly influenced later Japanese tokusatsu superhero films. Moonlight Mask also became popular around that time, with six films retelling the story of the TV series were made. Another early Japanese superhero film

5320-405: The groundwork for the Marvel Cinematic Universe . A few months later, The Dark Knight released to widespread critical acclaim and became the first superhero movie to make over $ 1 billion at the worldwide box office. 2009 saw the release of Watchmen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine . The 2010s saw a continuation and expansion of the box-office success of superhero films from the 2000s, taking

5415-644: The hands of the Phoenix . Another example is the stinger at the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which features a post-memory loss Lockhart . A third example occurs in Young Sherlock Holmes : during the entire credits, a sleigh is seen traveling in the Alps to a mountain inn; at the end of the credits, the passenger Professor Rathe (presumed to be dead), also known as "Eh-Tar", signs

5510-495: The highest-grossing superhero film franchises since 1967 include Tsuburaya Productions ' Ultra Series , Toei Company 's Kamen Rider and Super Sentai , New Line Cinema 's Blade , 20th Century Fox 's X-Men , Sony Pictures ' Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi , the Amazing Spider-Man duology directed by Marc Webb , Pixar 's The Incredibles , Christopher Nolan 's Dark Knight Trilogy ,

5605-483: The main body of the film. Most were short clips that served to tie together loose ends—minor characters whose fates were not elaborated on earlier in the film, or plot lines that were not fully wrapped up. For example, all five Pirates of the Caribbean films include such scenes. Napoleon Dynamite features a stinger that reveals that Kip and LaFawnduh get married, a scene that was included in its wide release . In

5700-562: The original Ultraman , the franchise started focusing on superheroes. The series was met with a 36.8% average audience rate, a success. In 1967, Ultraman started expanding to films. Early films, such as Ultraman: Monster Movie Feature , were compilations or theatrical releases of TV shows' episodes. The first original Ultraman film was The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army , a co-production with Thailand . This rise in popularity of television superheroes in Japan led to

5795-582: The part of Chi Chi, but the role eventually went to Jamie Chung . Principal photography began on December 3, 2007, in Mexico City, Mexico. Locations included the Universidad Tecnológica de México . From January 2, 2008, the crew shot at Sierra de Órganos National Park . The crew moved to Estado de México in March of that year for some shots at Nevado de Toluca . Shooting was also scheduled at Los Angeles , California . In adapting

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5890-558: The post-credits scene in The Avengers , which has the team eating shawarma in a derelict restaurant in the aftermath of the film's climactic battle, or Spider-Man: Homecoming , which features Captain America educating the audience on patience. The credits of many Pixar films, including A Bug's Life (1998), Finding Nemo (2003), The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Finding Dory (2016) have included humorous mid-credits scenes. A Bug's Life (1998), for example, parodied

5985-614: The post-credits scene of Iron Man 2 shows S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson locating a large hammer at the bottom of a crater in a New Mexico desert, thus teasing the release of Thor the following year. The post-credits sequence of Captain America: The Winter Soldier introduces the characters of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff , who join the franchise in Avengers: Age of Ultron . Other times these mid- and post-credits scenes serve primarily as gags, such as

6080-477: The project was retitled Dragonball . Ben Ramsey 's first draft was deemed too expensive to shoot, and in the end, he wrote about five different drafts of the script following notes from the studio. James Wong wrote the last draft, again according to notes from the studio, but decided to remain uncredited as the co-screenwriter. Chow was a Dragon Ball fan, citing its "airy and unstrained story [which] leaves much room for creation", but explained he would only serve as

6175-508: The quality of the film. The film was nominated for a 2009 Spike TV Scream Award for "Best Comic Book Movie," but lost to Watchmen . JoBlo.com nominated the film for its Golden Schmoes Awards in the category Worst Movie of the Year 2009, but lost to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen . At the time it was released, plans were in place for a sequel film to Dragonball Evolution . In

6270-456: The register as " Moriarty ". With the rise of pre-planned film franchises , post-credits scenes have been adopted in order to prepare the audience for upcoming sequels, sometimes going so far as to include a cliffhanger ending where the main film is largely stand-alone. The cinematic release of The Matrix Reloaded demonstrated the sequel set-up use of stingers by featuring the trailer for The Matrix Revolutions . Another example would be

6365-570: The release of a film version of Spawn (1997), Image Comics ' leading character. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics (the company that owned The Men in Black comic series), Marvel and Columbia Pictures released the Men in Black film in 1997. This film was the first Marvel property to win an Academy Award and, at the time, was the highest-grossing comic book adaptation. While commercially successful, Joel Schumacher 's Batman & Robin (1997)

6460-401: The role, but if "it were back when Jackie Chan was still young, I suppose I would have thought nobody could play Goku but him." In 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired the live-action feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise from Shueisha , publisher of Toriyama's original manga series. Mark Schilling reported that Toriyama was engaged by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant. In

6555-414: The royalties for Bulma's invention. Together, they fight off an ambush by Mai and obtain the next Dragonball. As the group continues their quest, they visit The World Martial Arts Tournament where Chi-Chi is competing; she fights Mai in a match, who steals a sample of her blood. Chi-Chi briefly joins the group as they travel to a temple where Roshi consults his former teacher Sifu Norris and begins preparing

6650-581: The same year, Stephen Chow was approached to direct the film, and although he said he was deeply interested because he is a fan of Dragon Ball , Chow declined the chance to direct. Instead, he accepted a role as a producer via his company Star Overseas. Robert Rodriguez , Mark A.Z. Dippé and Zack Snyder were offered to direct but passed. 20th Century Fox then went on to send the script to writer/director James Wong who accepted. In 2007, James Wong and RatPac-Dune Entertainment co-founder Brett Ratner were announced as director and producer respectively, and

6745-470: The scene, text overlays reads "Coming Up Next" and "Matt Helm Meets Lovey Kravezit." In 1979, The Muppet Movie uses a framing device in which the characters themselves watch the movie unfold in a theater. During the credits, the Muppets get up from their seats, talk to each other and joke around (thus incentivizing the real audience to stick around and see what happens next). In the final moment after

6840-439: The sequel titled Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow premiered. In 1998, Marvel released Blade , a darker superhero film blended with traditional action elements, featuring a title character with the powers of a vampire and an arsenal of weaponry. The success of Blade is considered the beginning of Marvel's film success, and a catalyst for further comic book film adaptations. The popularity of

6935-483: The seven Dragonballs, killing anyone in his path. On his eighteenth birthday, martial artist and high school senior Goku is given the four-star Dragonball by his Grandpa Gohan . Returning home from a party hosted by his crush Chi-Chi , Goku finds his home destroyed by Piccolo, who was looking for the Dragonball. Before he dies, Gohan tells Goku to seek out martial arts guru Master Roshi , who has another one of

7030-523: The start of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises by famous manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori in 1971 and 1975, respectively. Similarly to Ultraman , many early Kamen Rider and Super Sentai episodes were released as films. Original Kamen Rider films released before 1978 include Kamen Rider vs. Shocker , Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell , Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants, and Five Riders vs. King Dark . Original superhero characters emerged in other, more comedy-oriented films , such as

7125-555: The stuntman; they just kept putting me up on wires. I still have a separated clavicle from the shoot, because it was just gnarly." He would later take on the role of Zamasu in Dragon Ball Super as a way to "redeem himself with the Dragon Ball Z community" following his work on the film. In 2016, writer Ben Ramsey apologized for the" following his work on the film, writing: "To have something with my name on it as

7220-721: The sub-genre's success and ubiquity to new heights. Matthew Vaughn 's adaptation of Kick-Ass was released in 2010, followed by Iron Man 2 a month later. 2011 releases included The Green Hornet , Green Lantern , and X-Men: First Class . After referencing the " Avengers Initiative " in the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk , Marvel released Thor on May 6, 2011, followed by Captain America: The First Avenger on July 22, 2011. While Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (February 17, 2012) had little audience interest, superhero films dominated

7315-556: The superhero film, setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century. John Kenneth Muir , in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television , describes The Matrix as a revolutionary re-imagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films. He credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip", and notes that its bullet-time effect effectively demonstrated

7410-415: The trend of bloopers at the end of movies by including fake blooper scenes of the characters making mistakes or goofing around on the "set" of the movie. Toy Story 2 (1999) and Monsters, Inc. (2001) followed suit. Other Pixar films, such as Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010) and Inside Out (2015) have included an epilogue that plays during the credits. An unusual use of the post-credits scene

7505-600: The writer be so globally reviled is gut-wrenching. To receive hate mail from all over the world is heartbreaking. [...] I went into the project chasing after a big payday, not as a fan of the franchise but as a businessman taking on an assignment. I have learned that when you go into a creative endeavor without passion you come out with sub-optimal results, and sometimes flat-out garbage. So I'm not blaming anyone for Dragonball [Evolution] but myself." Following Akira Toriyama's death on March 1, 2024, Justin Chatwin took to social media to send his condolences while also apologizing for

7600-420: Was Ōgon Bat (1966), starring Sonny Chiba and based on the 1931 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat . The kaiju monster Godzilla , originally a villain, began to transition into a superhero role in subsequent films. He has been described as "the original radioactive superhero," due to his nuclear origin story predating Spider-Man's 1962 debut, although Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah,

7695-435: Was "overacting like never before", but did consider it "fun in a train-wreck kind of way" and that while it was never boring it was also never "logical, coherent [or] rational". Christopher Monfette of IGN gave the film a positive review, stating that it captured "the flavor of anime without becoming overly cartoonish". He praised the main cast for "creating characters the audience can actually care about" and felt Chatwin

7790-597: Was "really exciting. It goes into the whole legend of Dragonball ". A script for a sequel was being written before the film's release. Marsters said that he would have reprised his role in future films, having "every intention of fulfilling the arc of Piccolo in live-action". Marsters indicated that the planned arc would feature elements from Dragon Ball Z , potentially including Piccolo's reincarnation and redemption, which would merge Piccolo and his son Piccolo Jr. into one character. Chatwin and Chung also expressed their hopes that Goku's best friend Krillin would be included in

7885-670: Was a critical and commercial success. The same year, Toei Company 's Spider-Man reimagining and the first Super Sentai crossover film, JAKQ Dengekitai vs. Gorenger , were released. Other successful entries emerged throughout the 1980s, including Eight Riders vs. Galaxy King (1980), Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie (1981), Richard Lester 's Superman II (1981), Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge (1981), and Paul Verhoeven 's RoboCop (1987). These were followed by Kamen Rider Black: Hurry to Onigashima and Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass , both released in 1988. Other superhero films released during

7980-418: Was based a cult sensation." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F. Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network , who was initially annoyed at fans of the franchise who criticized the film via leaked set shots and trailers before

8075-482: Was both a critical and commercial failure . Critics and fans alike lamented the script, cast, and unfaithfulness to the source material. Additionally, it grossed only $ 9.4 million in North America and a worldwide total of $ 56.5 million against a budget of $ 30 million. The film was meant to be the first of a series, though all subsequent films were canceled. It is often referred to as one of the worst films of all time . The film has been accused of whitewashing and has had

8170-449: Was canceled. Bandai America released a mass-market toy-line based on the movie in time for the theatrical release. The figures came in 4-inch and 6-inch versions. Lastly, Japanese toy company MediCom created stylized Goku and Piccolo Be@rbrick toys to coincide with the release of the film. The July 2008 issue of Jump Square published a manga by Daisuke Kadokuni, inspired by the film. Though an American film, Dragonball: Evolution

8265-410: Was comparable to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and Speed Racer . In its second weekend, it dropped to 11th place. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 14% of 63 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Executed with little panache or invention, Dragonball Evolution lacks the magic that made the books on which it

8360-468: Was confirmed that the theme song would be " Rule " by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki . Also featured on the film's soundtrack is American pop artist Brian Anthony, whose remixed song "Worked Up" was released as a single in English territories, and is included on the home video releases as a bonus feature. The film's soundtrack , Dragonball Evolution: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack , was released in

8455-432: Was critically panned for its campiness and deviation from the darker style of the series' first two films directed by Tim Burton. Some have cited it as a factor in the temporary decline of the superhero film sub-genre. Starting with the 1990s, original Ultraman films became more common. In 1996, Tsuburaya released Ultraman Zearth , which parodied the original TV series and later installments. The following year,

8550-427: Was ill-cast as Goku, and that director Wong failed to capture the "frenetic sense of the anime" adaptation in the action scenes, leaving them an effort to understand. Since its release, the film has been considered to be among of the worst films ever made. It was the lowest-rated film on review aggregator IMDb until it was replaced by Velma as the site's worst-reviewed piece of media ever made. Dragonball Evolution

8645-401: Was particularly likeable as Goku. Slant Magazine ' s Rob Humanick considered the film "uninspired" and implausible with an "aimlessly hyperactive construction and complete lack of substance" and "cobbled-together FX fakery". Reviewing the film for Australia's ABC Radio National , Jason Di Rosso stated the film was "lacking the visual panache of recent graphic novel adaptations". He agreed

8740-495: Was produced for $ 30 million. Justin Chatwin was selected to play the film's central character Goku . Ron Perlman was originally offered the role of the villain Lord Piccolo , but turned it down to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army . James Marsters , who accepted the role, noted he was a fan of the original anime adaptation , describing it as "the coolest television cartoon in the last 50,000 years [because] it's got

8835-543: Was released in Japan and Hong Kong on March 13, 2009, nearly a month before its American release. It was released in Australia on April 2 and in the United Kingdom on April 8. Its release in its home country changed dates many times. Initially scheduled to be released in North America on August 15, 2008, it was later moved to April 2009 to allow time for additional filming and post-production work. The specific date then changed back and forth between April 10 and 8, with

8930-608: Was ultimately decided that such a look was too unrealistic. Instead, she had her natural brown with blue streaks. Chatwin did not wear a wig as the director felt Chatwin's hair resembled Goku's. A large amount of Dragonball Evolution was shot in an abandoned jeans factory, also located in Durango, Mexico. Dragonball Evolution special effects were done by Amalgamated Dynamics, while the visual effects were done by Ollin Studios, Zoic Studios, and Imagine Engine. On December 9, 2008, it

9025-427: Was written by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon. Aimed at children ages 8–15, the novel was released by Viz Media on February 24, 2009. The same day, a series of chapter books for readers 7–10 was released. The three volumes, subtitled The Discovery , The Search , and The Battle were also written by Deutsch and Cohan. A 16-paged sticker book, Dragonball: Evolution Sticker Book , followed on March 24, 2009. Released

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