Dragon Ball: The Story of Tien

Dragon Ball: The History of Tien would be a 2032 American-Japanese martial arts fantasy buddy adventure film directed by Jon Favreau from an screenplay by Justin Marks, and based on the Japanese manga Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. An entry in the Dragon Ball Live-action Universe (DBLU), the film would be a co-production between Walt Disney Pictures, Toei Company, Amblin Entertainment, and Fairview Entertainment, with Toriyama, Chloe Zhao even Spielberg, C, and Kevin Feige returning as producers from previous DBLU films. The film would star Neel Sethi, Chloe Bennet, Jackie Chan, Max Charles, Simu Liu, Bradley Cooper, and Paul Rudd reprising their roles, with Hiroyuki Sanada, Tony Leung, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey joining the cast as Tien Shinhan, Master Shen, and the voice of Chiaotzu, while Jeffrey Wright would return from the first film as narrator. Brian Tyler would compose and conduct the film's score.
Development on a fourth Dragon Ball film would be first revealed in early 2030, with Marks set to write the screenplay and Favreau being in talks to direct the film. At the San Diego Comic-Con 2030, the film would be confirmed under the title of Dragon Ball: The History of Tien, based on the manga's Tien Shinhan Saga,with Favreau being set to direct the film, as well as the film's returning and new cast members being announced. Filming would begin in March 2031, and would take place in Atlanta, Georgia. The filmmakers would develop the film with a darker tone than previous Dragon Ball films, akin to the original saga.
Dragon Ball: The History of Tien would be released in July 16, 2032, and, as with its predecessors, it would become a critical and commercial success. Critics would praise the film for its darker tone, direction, performances (particularly Sanada, Leung, and O'Shaughnessey's), writing, score, and visual effects. The film would earn 1.3 billion dollars at the worldwide box office, over a budget of 180 million dollars. The film would also win an Academy Award for Best Original Score, as well as Academy Award nominations for Best Production Design, Best Vsual Effects, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
== Synopsis ==
One year after the final defeat of the Red Ribbon Army, Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha expent the following months getting ready for the World Martial Arts Tournament, a tournament where the winner is declared to be the strongest person in the world. However, turns out they weren't the only martial art school with plans to enter the tournament, as Roshi's friend-turned-rival, the cruel, merciless, and winning-obssesed Master Shen had his own students, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, enter the tournament in order to win once again. However, as the two groups interact with each other througth the tournament, Chiaotzu begins to see his master for the insane monster he truly is, and tries to convince his firend Tien to forget his teachings. Tien must now choose bewteen his master, who had raised him since he was a kid, and the only friend he ever has.
== Cast ==
* Neel Sethi as Goku, a young boy who has expent most of his early life in Mount Paozu, and later became one of Master Roshi's student.
* Hiroyuki Sanada as Tien Shinhan, a martial artist student trained by Shen who, having been raised by hs influence, shares his philosophy of winning no matter what. Sanada would describe him as "a cold-hearted murderer whose heart is thawed" and would describe his arc as "not only learning that friends are more important than victory, but also learning to stand-up against an abusive parent figure".
* Tony Leung as Master Shen, the abusive, insane, and cold-hearted master of Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, and Roshi's former friend-turned-rival, who believes that one should win no matter what, and that honor is stupid. Leung would compare his character to Professor Ratigan from Disney's The Great Mouse Detective (1986), as both are "monstrous beings who hide in the disguise of civilizated persons".
* Jackie Chan as Master Roshi, an old martial artist trainer and Goku, Yamcha, and Krillin's master, who reunites with his friend-turned-rival, Shen. Chan would say that "Roshi is quite angrier here than before".
* Chloe Bennet as Bulma, a techno-savy girl from the city and one of Goku's best friends. Bennet would say that "Bulma had to learn to understand others before, now she has to learn to be patient, because she is aware of the pain of loneliness, and dosen't want Tien to suffer that, but he's very stuborn to listen".
* Max Charles as Krillin, a young student of Roshi's, who enteres the tournament, and helps Chiaotzu escape Shen's abuse. Charles would describe Krillin in the film as being "an adviser to Chiaotzu".
* Simu Liu as Yamcha, a former desert bandit and one of Goku's friends, who became a student of Roshi's.
=== Voice cast ===
* Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Chiaotzu, an small student of Shen's and Tien's best friend, who begins to doubt his master's intentions durinf the World Martial Arts Tournament. Director Jon Favreau would say that "while the characters do help Chiaotzu a little", most of the character's arc would "really enterelly in Chioatzu's shoulders". The character's color skin would be chaged from the manga's white color to oragne in order to "give a little diversity to the characters, without causing controversy".
* Aleks Le as Oolong, a greedy pig who is a former accomplice of Yamcha's.
* Zeno Robinson as Puar, a cat who is Yamcha's best friend and a former accomplice of him's.
Additionally, Travis Willingham would reprise his role as the voice of Turtle, Roshi's long-time friend and pet, who lives with him at Kame House. Sam Whither would voicr King Piccolo in a post-credits scene, with Ray Park physically potraying the character, while Tom Vaughan-Lawlor would provide the voice and motion-capture for Tambourine, one of King Piccolo's sons.
== Music ==
Brian Tyler, who would previously co-compose the score for Dragon Ball: Tao, would compose and conduct the film's score. Tyler, a fan of the original manga and anime, would be "honored to take the musical reigns of the franchise", after Henry Jackman previously worked on the score for the first three films. Tyler would re-use several of Jackman's themes from the previous films "in order to keep continuity", as well as themes from the original anime by Shunsuke Kikcuchi. Tyler would create a theme for Tien Shinhan "that feels ruthless and determined but becomes less ruthless as time passes on", as well as "a from-cowardly-to-brave" theme for Chiaotzu". Tyler would also compose a "determined, bombastic, and sinister" theme for Shen in order to showcase his true personality.
== Reception ==
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film would have an approval rating of 93%, with an average raiting of 8.9/10, based on 250 reviews. The website's critical consensus would read, "With a darker edge and incredible new additions to the cast, Dragon Ball: The History of Tien manages to grow up a little bit more while still presenting its now-characteristic heartfelt storytelling and emotional core, once again giving fans an enjoyable story". On Metacritic, the film would have a weighted rating of 82 out of 100, based on 50 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
== Trivia ==
* According to director Jon Favreau, the reason Shen would laught while falling to his death instead of screaming would be in order to showcase his insanity.
* Many cast and crew members of the film would have been involved in the Marvel CInematic Universe: Jon Favreau directed the first two Iron Man and executive-produced several MCU films, Chloe Zhao wrote and directed The Eternals, Kevin Feige has produced/co-produced every MCU film to date, Simu Lui and Tony Leung will potray Shang-Chi and the Mandarin in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Chloe Bennet potrayed Daisy "Skye" Johnson/Quake in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Bradley Cooper voiced Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers films, Paul Rudd potrayed Scott Lang/Ant-Man in multiple films in the franchise, and Brian Tyler scored Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, as well as the score for Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside Danny Elfman.
* Jon Favreau, Justin Marks, and Neel Sethi previously worked together in Disney's The Jungle Book (2016).