Fans of the popular Dragonball comics, animated series and videogames will apparently have to wait until next year toe see the property unspool on the big screen. ComingSoon.net reports that 20th Century Fox has pushed the movie’s release date from August 15 to April 3, 2009. Among other considerations, the shift will avoid competition from Lucasfilm Animation’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a theatrical release made up of episodes of the CG-animated television series, which will debut on Cartoon Network this fall.
The Dragonball movie is being directed by James Wong (The One, Final Destination, Final Destination 3) and produced by Stephen Chow, the writer, director and actor behind the international hit Kung Fu Hustle. Working from his own screenplay, Wong will is shooting the film in Mexico City and Los Angeles with stars Justin Chatwin (The Invisible), Emmy Rossum (Poseidon), James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer series) and Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
Dragonball began as a manga created by Akira Toriyama and published under Shueisha’s Jump Comics label. The books spawned a successful animated series, nearly a dozen animated movies and a line of video games that has seen more than 10 million units shipped to date.
