Monday, April 13, 2009 2:56 AM By Michelle Castillo LOS ANGELES TIMES 20TH CENTURY FOX http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2009/04/13/2_D RAGONBALL_FANS.ART_ART_04-13-09_D3_QRDH68V.html?sid=101
Bulma (Emmy Rossum) and Goku (Justin Chatwin) HOLLYWOOD -- Hell hath no fury like an angry fanboy. Dragonball Evolution, which hit U.S. theaters on Friday, is already reaching legendary status as the 2009 film fans love to hate. The makers of the live-action film hoped to tap a built-in audience by adapting the hugely popular manga epic that has already spawned three anime series, 17 animated films and three TV specials. But around the Web, fans have been bellowing their anger over the choices made by director James Wong (The One, Final Destination), who was looking to streamline and mainstream the Dragon Ball mythology. The story follows Goku, a monkey-tailed Japanese boy, as he trains in martial arts and searches for seven Dragon Balls said to grant the beholder's wish. Fans are frothing about the casting, missing characters, fight scenes and even the hairstyles. This is serious stuff to devotees who have followed the manga franchise since it began in 1984. On imdb.com, the movie Web site, one fan said: "I could go on for hours about what they did wrong." One of the film's stars, Jamie Chung, who plays Chi Chi, asks fans to give the movie a chance before putting it in the same category as Catwoman or Speed Racer, two movies that took hand-drawn fanboy favorites and turned them into live-action bombs. "I feel like all movies that adapt some sort of (material), whether it's a book or a manga or a cartoon, into a film -- you're going to have to take creative liberty . . . so that it works for a motion picture," Chung said. This is a new era of relationships between fans and studios. In 2008, Warner Bros. had a Muggle revolt when it abruptly postponed the sixth Harry Potter film release from November to summer 2009 to maximize profit. Fans came after Warner chairman Alan Horn and pledged boycotts. Fan debate also raged this year over the Warner film Watchmen, the holy grail of serious comic-book films. But unlike the old days when a controversy might propel a film for weeks at theaters, this time the movie generated more Internet traffic than box-office receipts. Second-week grosses plummeted 67 percent. In an unconventional move, Dragonball was released first in Asia as early as last spring. The film passed the $22 million mark at the end of 2008, according to Box Office Mojo. Some of the major Dragonball changes include setting the story during Goku's high-school years, as well as casting a white actor in the role. But the biggest: Goku's towering spikes of black hair were cut to a much more mundane level and are light-brown on star Justin Chatwin. Chung, for one, said change is good sometimes. "I mean, you can't make it look ridiculous," the actress said. *********************************** * POST TO MEDIANEWS@ETSKYWARN.NET * *********************************** Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
