According to Barnes & Noble, Dragonball will have its very own “Junior Novel” based upon the movie written by Ben Ramsey and James Wong. The book is being adapted by Stacia Deutsh and Rhody Cohan, and is scheduled for a February 2009 release. Published by VIZ Media LLC, the book is 152 pages in length.

Amazon lists the books price at just $5.99, and they’re also taking pre-orders.

Collect all seven Dragon Balls and you can wish for whatever you want!
Goku thought he was a normal high school student until he found out he’s actually a martial-arts whiz with all kinds of powers. Now he and his fellow teen warriors are on a quest to find all the Dragon Balls before they fall into the wrong hands. But they may already have! Goku must battle the evil Piccolo with all he’s got to save the planet Earth!

Apparently “The Junior Novel” is only one book in a series. Three more books, “The Battle,” “The Search” and “The Discovery” can also be found on the Barnes & Noble website for $4.99 each. Each one has 77 pages and a release date of February 3rd, 2009.

Jenova Anime has uploaded yet another Mai (Eriko Tamura) vs. Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung) tournament fight video. This one’s probably the shortest so far, but enjoy!

In addition to that, Dukemon from DBMB found a new scan from… Playboy? All of the images were previously released, but it’s something!

We’ve got a translation thanks to my source in Japan.

Live-Action Dragonball premiere date is decided. The Kamehameha will be unleashed all at once throughout Japan on March 13th, 2009.

“This movie is a boy’s coming-of-age tale. And I like Goku very much,” said Justin Chatwin.

Chow Yun-Fat is Master Roshi. What will become of the funny scene “Pafu-Pafu” ?

Emmy Rossum is Bulma. She will ride around on very cool motorcycles.

Now live-action Dragonball is in production in Hollywood, its official premiere date is decided. On Friday the 13th of March 2009 the movie will be released throughout Japan ahead of the world.

Needless to say, Dragonball is the great masterpiece comic of Akira Toriyama. It has sold more than 300 million copies in the world so far, and still continue to sell. In this movie, Hollywood’s hopeful good-looking young actor Justin Chatwin plays starring role Goku. He talked about his favorite scenes, “I think it is the action scenes. They are filled with many very ambitious scenes we have never seen before. Kamehameha is very challenging too.”

The brilliant actress Emmy Rossum plays Bulma who travels with Goku. “The emperor Asian movie” Chow Yun-Fat plays Master Roshi. James Marsters plays lord Piccolo. And Japanese world-class actress who is active in Hollywood Eriko Tamura plays Mai. Though many of this movie is still veiled in secrecy, here are four very rare pictures that Shuupure (Weekly Playboy) got secretly. How will Goku prevent the ambitious Piccolo from taking over the world? Next March, its secret will become clear.

Discuss on LegendaryForums.com.

Dragonball Movie Blog recently had the opportunity to speak to the head of Ironhead studios, Jose Fernandez. Here’s what he had to say about his work on Dragonball:

DBMB: How did you get involved with Dragonball? Was there some sort of “auditioning” process or where you approached by Fox/James Wong?
JF: I was approached by Fox. I’ve done a handful of films for them, so we have a bit of a relationship.

DBMB: What characters did you work on in this film?
JF: In the early design phase I worked on almost, if not every character. After the initial drawings, the director and studio chose what they did and didn’t want to use. As far as final design and fabrication, I was responsible for Piccolo’s full costume and armor, everything except for his makeup, which ADI was responsible for. I also assisted Mayes Rubeo with realizing Goku’s costume and gei.

DBMB: What was it like working with the cast and crew?
JF: Other than James Marsters, I had little contact with the cast. I was only on set for a couple of days to make sure that the costumes were maintained, and looked the best they could on film.

DBMB: What was James Wong like as a director?
JF: I didn’t have the pleasure of working with James in depth. We met in a few preliminary meetings and e-mailed a few times. He seemed very focused and open to creative ideas.

DBMB: What was James Wong looking for in terms of character design?
JF: Well, James seemed to have a healthy respect for the source material. He wanted to create a memorable world that satisfied fans, but also was grounded in reality.

DBMB: How do you expect post-production to effect the look of certain characters? In what ways do you hope it will?
JF: I can only hope that the post-production work enhances the film. My favorite effects are the ones that seamlessly blend the practical and digital worlds. One world should enhance the other. Believability is always key.

DBMB: Were you familiar with the source material when you joined the project? If not, did you consult the original material for inspiration?
JF: I was not at the time, but there were those around me that were. That said, I immediately immersed myself in the world. Hopefully the fans are pleased.

DBMB: In terms of the styling of the characters you worked on for this film, what were some of the details that James Wong had requested you include?
JF: I specifically remember our conversations concerning Goku. James wanted to make sure that he wasn’t too tailored. He wanted Goku to feel like a timeless warrior. A combination of the new and old. Rather than come out of a superhero factory, Goku pieced together his costume from various sources that were important to him.

DBMB: What was the most challenging part of Dragonball?
JF: The biggest challenge for me specifically were budget and time constraints. I’m always pleasantly surprised with what can be done in a limited amount of time. I look forward to those challenges. They force you to be a problem solver.

DBMB: What directors would you like to work with that you haven’t worked with already?
JF: The new vanguard. Zack Snyder, Jon Favreau, Christopher Nolan…. I’m not sure in what capacity he could use me, but I’m a huge fan of Bryan Bird. For me, that guy can do no wrong.

DBMB: And of course I must ask, who is your favorite Dragonball character and why?
JF: I’m a fan of Yamcha. He reminds me of Han Solo. I’ve always been partial to the “loveable rogue” character. They have the most interesting arcs.

Dragonball Le Film recently received an email from Ben Ramsey (who wrote an earlier draft of the screenplay). Unfortunately he couldn’t comment on if the leaked script we posted weeks ago was real or not, but he does leave a very nice message.

I haven’t read the leaked script so I don’t know if it was one of my drafts or not. Plus I am not at liberty to comment on it one way or the other.

I have not seen the whole film yet but what I’ve seen looks incredible. It was an absolute honor to be a part of Dragonball history. I am big fan of James Wong’s work and I am confident that he made a movie that will thrill die-hard fans and non-fans alike.

I’d like to thank all the fans for their support and for helping to promote the movie. With your help Goku, Roshi, Bulma, Yamchi, Chi Chi and Piccolo will rule the Universe in 2009.

Kamehameha!

Ben

They also received a comment from Cacey Hotchkiss, a camera operator for the film.

Working on Dragonball was a great experience. Jim Wong is incredible. He knows what he wants and won’t quit until he gets his shots.

And DBtheMovie reader Sean found an interview with Texas Battle (Carey Fuller), who briefly mentions his work on Dragonball.

As far as Dragon Ball, all you’ve got to do is say Dragon Ball and there it is. It’s supposed to be one of the biggest adaptation movies over sees in Asia, as well as in the States. It’s a huge budget, and from Twentieth Century Fox. I’ve been in their movies since I started my career. We’re looking for that to blow up, and definitely there’s going to be sequels, and a trilogy if everything goes right. I’m looking forward to it. I play a character named Carey Fuller, and me and Goku, who is played by Justin Chatwin are going to get into it a little bit, because I don’t like him and he tries to steal my girlfriend, Chi Chi. And I’m not going to go out without a fight.

And finally, Dragonball-Live interviewed Dan Fraga, one of the films storyboard artists. Here are some of the highlights:

Did you inform yourself and get inspiration on the anime to create your story board ? Were you inspired by Akira Toriyama’s style ?

Before being asked to work on Dragon Ball, I was already a fan of the Anime. I had maybe around 20 issues of the manga, but it was in Japanese, so I really could only look at the pictures. The first time I had ever heard of Dragon Ball was in 1993 when a fellow comic book artist showed me the Anime on a VHS tape. It was a bootleg from Japan. What inspired me most about Dragon Ball Z was the level of energy and dynamics that was put into the action sequences. If anything, that’s what I tried to bring with me to my work on the film.

A lot of rumours are saying that the film will be a PG, Will it definately be a PG and not a PG 13 ? or even an R rated movie ? In our opinion an PG13 or R rated movie is more appropriate for the dragon ball universe ?

While I can’t comment on the Rating of the Dragon Ball film, I will comment on that I’d personally prefer an R rating. My first job on a film was on The Transporter 2. Originally, we filmed an R rated movie, and unfortunately, Luc and Fox wanted more “butts in seats” so it was brought down to PG-13. I really feel that the film suffered because of it. As far as Dragon Ball is concerned, I think that Jim directed an incredible film. I’m sure if his intended cut makes it to the screen, you’ll be happy.

Dragonball Le Film found a set photo of Emmy Rossum’s stunt double, Janene Carleton, on Bulma’s bike.

Jenova Anime has once again provided more photos from the set of Dragonball. This time, a closer look at the Fulum assassins. Click to enlarge.

Dragonball Movie Blog reader Tallai sent in a set report from the Mexico City shoot which lasted from November to December before moving to Durango in January. Because there are a few contradictions in this report, we are classifying it as a rumor.

There were vaious scenes in the highschool during about the first half of the story. They had 4 groups of differnt extras. The 4 groups were, Outside the school, Inside the school, Goku’s class room, and the hall ways. There were about a good 20 people in each shot. The scene he was in was the outside of the school. This was the first shot they show of the school, Goku was walking in down the street to get to school. He crossed the road, and got to the school. The first few promotional pics were for that scene. How ever there was speculation going around that there was a car crash… there was no car crash in that scene. Either they added it in later I dont no but that was the scene.

Working with the crew was amazing, even though I was only there for 2 weeks I got to meet Justin Chatwin. He was soo comitted to getting Goku right. He, in my opinion, took this movie more seriously then anyone else. James wong was a great director, he just basiclly told us what to do and we all just went and did that scene. I was surprised that for 1 of the scenes there were quite a few blocking mistakes but he decided that the scene was all right. It felt a bit rushed through out those 2 days because we managed to cram in almost 20 scenes in 1 day. Everyone was in a constant rush. I didnt get too meet any other cast member personally other than Justin. I did see James Marsters but I didnt see Emmy any where. James Masters was another one of the guys who made sure he gave 100 %. I cant say much about the sets because it would be breaking my agreement. But I can say that the sets that I saw were astonishing. It felt like these sets took years to make, but in fact it only took a few months. Everything felt like it was in the right place at the right time. The extras were also used as extras in the tournament. We were the audience. They just basically told us that go crazy. Yell as loud as you can!

The promoting of the film wont start for a while. We were told that about late October to mid November we can see a teaser trailer, but hopefully it will come out before. This movie has alot of surprises that no one would ever expect. Working in James Wong’s adaptaion of Dragonball was amazing, and I cant wait to see this movie when it comes out next April.

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