Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Dragon Ball Super: Broly (ドラゴンボール ブロリー) is a 2018 Japanese anime martial arts fantasy/adventure film, directed by Tatsuya Nagamine and written by Dragon Ball series creator Akira Toriyama. It is the twentieth Dragon Ball feature film overall, the third film produced with Toriyama's direct involvement, and the first to carry the Dragon Ball Super branding.

Set after the events of the Universe Survival Saga depicted in Dragon Ball Super, the film follows series protagonists Goku and Vegeta as they encounter a powerful Saiyan named Broly. In the beginning, it tells the history of the Saiyans and the background story of these three Saiyans with different destinies connected to the turbulent period of their race, and later resulting in a massive fight between them.

The film represents the first appearance of a reworked iteration of Broly in the primary Dragon Ball series continuity, following the character's appearances in the films Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), Broly – Second Coming (1994), and Bio-Broly (1994). Having received positive reviews from critics, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the highest-grossing Dragon Ball film ever, the highest-grossing anime film of 2018, and one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time.

Plot
Forty-one years ago, the Saiyan homeworld Planet Vegeta is ruled by the forces of King Cold, who delegates their command to his son Frieza. King Vegeta, leader of the Saiyans, believes his son Prince Vegeta is a prodigy destined to liberate their people and rule the universe. He learns of Broly, a Saiyan baby born with an abnormal power level exceeding that of his son, and exiles Broly to the distant planet Vampa. Broly and his father Paragus, who goes after his son, are stranded on Vampa after their ships are damaged. Paragus vows to raise Broly as a mighty warrior to exact revenge on King Vegeta.

Five years later, a low-class Saiyan warrior named Bardock becomes suspicious of Frieza and sends his son Kakarot (later named Goku) to Earth. His suspicions are confirmed when Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta after learning of a legend about a Legendary Super Saiyan who could one day defeat him. The Saiyan race is eradicated, except for Broly and Paragus, Goku and his brother Raditz, Vegeta and his comrade Nappa and Vegeta's brother Tarble.

In the present day, Goku and Vegeta train on an island with Bulma, Bulla, Beerus and Whis. Bulma is contacted by Trunks, who informs her that six of the Dragon Balls have been stolen by Frieza's soldiers. Goku, Vegeta, Bulma and Whis travel to the Arctic to find the seventh Dragon Ball before Frieza can retrieve it. Meanwhile, Broly and Paragus are rescued from Vampa by Cheelai and Lemo, two low-class soldiers in Frieza's army searching for recruits. They are brought to Frieza, who recruits them to help him defeat Goku and Vegeta. The two groups come face-to-face in the Arctic, where Paragus orders Broly to attack Vegeta.

Broly fights Vegeta and then Goku, growing stronger as the fight goes on and catching up to their Super Saiyan God forms. Goku overpowers Broly with Super Saiyan Blue and Frieza responds by murdering Paragus, triggering the awakening of Broly's Super Saiyan powers. He overwhelms Goku and Vegeta with his new power, so they trick him into attacking Frieza instead and then teleport to Piccolo's location. Goku and Piccolo teach Vegeta how to use the Fusion Dance technique; about an hour later, after two failed attempts, Goku and Vegeta successfully fuse together into Gogeta and teleport back to the battlefield. Gogeta turns Super Saiyan and engages in a beam clash with Broly, which shatters the fabric of reality and sends the two into another dimension. Gogeta dominates the fight until an infuriated Broly powers up even further into his Legendary Super Saiyan form. This allows Broly to regain the advantage, until Gogeta powers up into Super Saiyan Blue, allowing him to dominate the fight once again. The two then clash even more violently, breaking through multiple dimensions, before arriving back in the real world.

Gogeta defeats Broly and is about to obliterate him with a powerful energy wave, but Cheelai and Lemo, who had formed a friendship with Broly, summon Shenron with the Dragon Balls and use their wish to transport Broly back to Vampa. Frieza retreats, promising to return another time. Goku later meets with Broly, Cheelai, and Lemo on Vampa, wishing to be friends and providing them with various survival supplies from Capsule Corp, while also hoping to spar with Broly again.

Development
The film is produced by Toei Animation. It was originally announced under the tentative title of Dragon Ball Super - The Movie on December 17, 2017, during Jump Festa with the general theme being "The Strongest Warrior Race in the Universe, The Saiyans". A poster was released on March 13, 2018, 11 days before the airing of the final episode of Dragon Ball Super, featuring an entirely new traditional animation design by Toei animator Naohiro Shintani, as opposed to veteran Dragon Ball character designer Tadayoshi Yamamuro. One week later, the first trailer for the film was released publicly through Toei Animation featuring the all–new character designs and an enigmatic new villain. Akira Toriyama wrote the story, screenplay and designed the characters, Tatsuya Nagamine is film director, Naohiro Shintani is animation director, Kazuo Ogura is serving as art director, Rumiko Nagai as color designer, Naotake Oota is in charge of special effects, and Kai Makino is the CG director. The film includes elements of the 2014 "Dragon Ball −(Minus): The Departure of the Fated Child" story written by Toriyama.

On July 9, 2018, the movie's title was revealed to be Dragon Ball Super: Broly, revealing the unknown villain to be the titular character Broly who first appeared in the 1993 film Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan. Toriyama stated the character and his origin is reworked, but with his classic image in mind. With this movie portrayal, the character would become part of the Dragon Ball Super official continuity. Other new characters introduced in the film are Goku's mother Gine, Kikono, Berryblue, Cheelai, and Lemo serving in the Frieza's army, and Saiyan Beets.

Music and soundtrack
The film score was composed by Norihito Sumitomo. The original soundtrack, containing 35 tracks, was released on 12 December, by Avex Trax. In August 2018, was reported a rumor that the Dragon Ball Z iconic theme song "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" would be also featured in a new arrangement. In October 2018, it was announced that Daichi Miura would perform the film's theme song "Blizzard", which was released as a single on 19 December, by Sonic Groove. Three versions of the single "Blizzard" were released (CD+DVD Edition, Single CD Edition and CD "Dragon Ball Super: Broly" Cover Edition). In its first week of release the CD single sold 22,826 copies. In his sixth week in the Charts, "Blizzard" reached number 2 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and achieved the number 1 on the Billboard Hot Animation.

Marketing


As a promotion, pre-order ticket holders in Japan, limited to fifty thousand, starting on July 20 would receive one of two charms of the characters Goku and Vegeta, whose hair changes based on the temperature of the figure. A promotional one-hour television special aired on Fuji TV in Japan on December 2, 2018, entitled "Just before the Dragon Ball Super debut! TV version climax recap".

The film was promoted through the "Dragon Ball North America Tour 2018 with Bandai Collectibles" sponsored by North American anime distributor Funimation, which was held in seven cities in the United States and Canada, starting with a San Diego Comic-Con International panel on July 19, and ending at Dallas Fan Days on October 21, 2018.

Due to the upcoming release of the film, in September and November was held a limited theatrical release and debut of the original film Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), and TV special & film Bardock - The Father of Goku (1990) and Fusion Reborn (1995) jointly titled as Dragon Ball Z: Saiyan Double Feature, by Fathom Events and Toei Animation in the United States, with the audience receiving an exclusive limited edition content. To promote the North American release of the film, a Goku balloon debuted on the 92nd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018.

On December 14, 2018, was released an official same-titled novel written by Masatoshi Kusakabe, which among other reveals that Vegeta is actually Vegeta IV or the Fourth, King Vegeta is Vegeta III or the Third, as well the name of two Saiyans, Leek and Taro, who were shown together with Bardock. It was one of the twenty top-selling light novels of January 2019, selling 10,466 copies in Japan.

On May 2, 2019, was released in Japan the anime comic "Dragon Ball Super: Broly", the official cover art was drawn by none other than Naohiro Shintani, the theatrical film's animation supervisor.

Release
The film is distributed in Japan by Toei Company in cooperation with 20th Century Fox, while its international distribution rights are owned by 20th Century Fox. On July 7, 2018, Funimation bought the film's international rights in the United States and Canada. In addition to regular screenings, it is also screened in IMAX, MX4D, and 4DX. The film is the first anime to be screened in IMAX in the United States, with a limited projection beginning January 16, 2019.

On July 19, 2018, trailers for both the subtitled and dubbed versions were released online after being shown at San Diego Comic-Con. On October 5, 2018, the second official trailer for both the subtitled and dubbed versions were released online after being shown at New York Comic Con during the Dragon Ball Super: Broly panel at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The third trailer was released on November 7, 2018, but only subtitled, while dubbed version on 20 December. The fourth which was a music trailer featuring the theme song "Blizzard" was released on November 24, 2018. The fifth and final trailer was released on 29 November 2018, with a dubbed version, also of the theme song, on 4 December 2018. Each trailer covered a different aspect of the film; the first introduced Broly and his fights against Vegeta, Goku and Frieza, the second their origin stories, the third more scenes from the fights, the fourth recapped previous scenes, and fifth which was the shortest introduced Gogeta's battle against Broly.

The world premiere of Dragon Ball Super: Broly was held at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on November 14, 2018. This event was limited to only 1,000 guests that were selected via lottery through Weekly Shōnen Jump No.47 and the December V Jump. Broly was open nationwide in Japan on December 14, 2018, while Funimation's English dub had its world premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on December 13 followed by its United States and Canada release a month later on January 16, 2019 by Funimation Films. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Manga Entertainment screened the film theatrically from January 23, 2019. In Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment screened the film theatrically from January 24, 2019, and also screened the IMAX and 4DX versions of the film in select cinemas. 20th Century Fox released the movie theatrically in the Philippines on January 30, 2019. On February 28, 2019, both Hong Kong and Italy projected the film theatrically through distributors Neofilms and Anime Factory respectively. In the France, Viz Media Europe screened the film theatrically from March 13, 2019. PVR Cinemas released the film in India on March 29, 2019, making it the first film of its franchise to be theatrically released in India. In China, the film premiered theatrically on May 24, 2019.

Japan
In its opening weekend between 14-16 December 2018, the film was shown on 467 screens in Japan, and surpassed Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' to set a new opening weekend record for the franchise. It opened at number-one at Japanese box office by dominating the weekend from December 14 to 16, selling more than 820,000 tickets and earning more than ¥1.05 billion (US$9.26 million) in its first three days. In its first six days it sold more than 1 million tickets and earned ¥1.3 billion (US$11.6 million). The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that the film has earned more than ¥2 billion (US$18.1 million) after 11 days at the box office, being the fastest film in the franchise to hit that mark. It has also sold more than 1.5 million tickets. After three weekends, on 31 December it earned $23.6 million in Japan, and roughly $24.4 million internationally.

According to Crunchyroll, after 24 days the film earned ¥3.35 billion on 2,604,870 tickets in Japan. After 32 days of release (14 December 2018 to 14 January 2019), the film had earned ¥3.64 billion (US$33.54 million), with 2,823,215 tickets having been sold. After 38 days of release, the film's earnings had increased to ¥3.75 billion (US$34.23 million) to become the highest-grossing film in the series. On seventh weekend, the film dropped from sixth to ninth place. As of 3 February 2019, the film has sold 3,009,730 tickets and grossed ¥3,895,569,200 (US$35.43 million) in Japan.

Worldwide
After four weekends, on 6 January 2019, it was estimated to have earned $32.3 million worldwide, with $29.7 million coming from Japan and $3.3 million from five other countries, including the highest-grossing opening by a Japanese film in Brazil with $1.7 million, and by a Japanese animation film in Malaysia with $232,000. During its release on 10 January in Latin America, in Peru the film had the second best premiere in history reaching 257,420 spectators on its first day of release, only surpassed by the Avengers: Infinity War with 291,629 in 2018, as well best premiere for an animation film in Bolivia. In Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and Uruguay the film also debuted at number-one at the box office. In its first Latin America weekend it grossed reportedly over $6.1 million in Mexico alone, while according to Deadline Hollywood, "Peru ($2.5 million) and Argentina ($1.55 million) gave Fox its biggest opening weekend ever, followed by Chile ($1.7 million) with the industry's 3rd biggest animation opening of all time. In Colombia it was Fox's 4th biggest opening weekend ever at $1.5 million and in Ecuador, the Toei anime fantasy is Fox's top launch ever, and the 3rd best superhero bow, behind Avengers: Infinity War and Thor: Ragnarok" with $1.3 million. In its fifth weekend ending 13 January 2019, the film grossed $19.2 million from 17 territories, becoming the weekend's third top-grossing film in international markets, behind only Bumblebee and Aquaman, which brought the film's worldwide gross to $53.5 million ahead of its United States release. On the weekend ending 20 January, the international cume had increased to $65.9 million, holding onto the number 1 spot in Chile ($3 million), Peru ($3.8 million) and Ecuador. The film's gross increased to $9.5 million in Mexico, $4.3 million in Brazil, $2.6 million in Argentina and $2.4 million in Colombia. Alongside its domestic total, the worldwide gross increased to $88.7 million.

In the United States the film earned $7.03 million on its opening day, which was a new series record, besting Resurrection 'F''s $1.97 million. It again topped the United States box office on its second day of release with $3.3 million, for a two-day total of $10.4 million. It earned $2.39 million on Friday (18 January), earning $12.8 million total in its first three days. The film ended up grossing $9.8 million across the three-day opening weekend (and $11.94 million across the four-day MLK Weekend) to bring its domestic total up to US$22.6 million in six days, far surpassing the original estimates of $11 million. In its second weekend it fell 63% to $3.6 million, finishing 10th. It became the 3rd highest grossing anime film in the United States of all time.

, Dragon Ball Super: Broly has grossed over US$30.7 million in the United States and Canada, and US$85.8 million internationally from Fox distributed markets, for a worldwide total of over US$116.5 million. It is the 11th highest grossing anime film internationally of all time.

Amongst non Fox distributed markets, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, it became the third highest-grossing anime film ever, earning £850,000 (US$million) on its first weekend. It eventually became the second highest-grossing upon surpassing £1 million ($1.3 million).

It debuted at number 7 in Australia and number 1 in New Zealand, raising AUS$1,322,182 and $309,209 respectively. In the Netherlands, it raised €377,570 (US$) in its first week of release, entering at number 4. About 73,000 people saw the movie on its premier on 29 January in Germany where it grossed €854,000 ($970,000). It debuted at number 3 in Spain and earned $1.82 million after its fourth weekend. It debuted at number 1 in Italy earning €1.7 million ($1.9 million) in its opening week. By its second weekend the gross had increased to €2.31 million ($2.6 million).

On 3 March 2019, the movie was reported by the official Dragon Ball news site to have earned over ¥12 billion ($107 million) at the worldwide box office. , the movie was reported in Toei Animations's fiscal report to have grossed over ¥13 billion ($118 million) at the worldwide box office. In China, where it released on 24 May 2019, the film debuted with a US$3.1 million opening weekend. , the film has grossed $30,712,119 in the United States and Canada, and $92,411,000 in other territories, for a worldwide total of US$.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dragon Ball Super: Broly may seem like colorful chaos to newcomers, but for longtime fans, it represents this long-running franchise near its action-packed apogee." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". According to Pia's first-day satisfaction survey of Japanese audiences, it ranked as No 1. with an audience approval rating of 92.7%, while American audiences gave the film five out of five stars on PostTrak, including a 91% positive score and 78% "definite recommend."

It received critical acclaim from the initial critical reviews by Anime News Network, IGN, and Comic Book praising the story, animation style, humour, as well Broly for making the movie a "meaningful character piece about a broken man haunted by his abuse-filled past—twisted into something he was never destined to become". In a 5 out of 5 stars review by Stuff, it was considered as the "best Dragon Ball film" with the only prominent critical point that "there are certain scenes where it transitions between 2D animation and 3D ... which can disrupt the flow of it all". Ollie Barder writing for Forbes, stated that the "only real criticism at this point is that after this solid narrative starting setup, we have a pretty hefty time jump to where we are post-Dragon Ball Super. Considering the depth and breadth of the story between these points of time, it would have been nice to have a bit more exposition to help with the pacing. However, that said, this is already a long movie and we all know that we have a massive fight to look forward to". Allegra Frank of Polygon concluded that the movie "gets the fundamentals of Dragon Ball extremely right, no matter where you're coming in from", with "no grand statements to be made in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, and more amusement than anxiety".

Accolades
The film was nominated for the Animation of the Year at 42nd Japan Academy Prize.

Home media
On April 16, 2019, Funimation released to the North American market the package of Blu-ray discs, DVD and digital combo of the film. The Blu-ray of the movie debuted at number 1 selling 298,048 copies, while the DVD debuted at number 9 selling 30,216 copies and therefore, together they raised more than US$6 million in retail stores of the United States in its first week of launching.

In United Kingdom, Manga Entertainment released the DVD and Blu-ray on May 27, 2019. Selecta Visión released the film in Spain on DVD and Blu-ray on May 29, 2019.

The film was released in Japan in regular and limited edition DVD and Blu-ray formats on June 05, 2019. The Limited editions for both formats include an bonus DVD featuring TV spot, promotional clips, world premiere event at Nippon Budokan and an event held on December 15, 2018. Also includes tin badges featuring Saiyan, 32 postcards, an original card folder and a 60-page booklet. The home video of Dragon Ball Super: Broly debuted at number 1 in the Japan's Animation DVD and Blu-ray Ranking and sold approximately 64,259 copies in its first week.

Manga adaptation
Dragon Ball Super: Broly has been adapted into a manga series. Featuring a cover illustration by Naohiro Shintani, the manga series is a fully colored adaptation of the film. The first issue released in Japan on 2 May 2019.