Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure

Dragon Ball: Krilin's Adventure would be a 2028 American buddy fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Universal Pictures, Toei Company, and Amblin Entertainment. It would be a sequel to Dragon Ball, which would be based on the Japanese franchise of the same name. Spielberg would also produce the film alongside the previous film's producers Michael B. Jordan and the franchise's creator Akira Toriyama, while the film would be written by Chrsitina Hudson, Spielberg, and Michael Arndt.

The film would feature Neel Sethi, Chloe Bennet, Jackie Chan, Sean Gunn, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd reprising their roles from the previous film, while Max Charles, Nina Lu, Chris Zylka, Chris Cooper, and Michael Arden would join the cast as Krillin, Suno, General Blue, Commander Red, and Android 8, respectively.

Akira Toriyama would first announce a sequel to Dragon Ball during the San Diego Comic-Con 2024, with Spielberg, who previously produced and co-wrote the previous film, being announced as director in August 2025. The previous film's cast would be announced in early 2026, while the new additions to the cast would be announced in the following months. Filming would occur from October 2026 to March 2027.

The film would be released on July 23, 2028, and would became a critical and commercial success, grossing 1.23 billion dollars over a budget of 177 millions, and being praised for its writing, humor, performances, visual effects, and music, with many critics calling it a "worthy successor" to the previous film.

A third film in the series, Dragon Ball: Tao. would be released on May 2030, and would become an even greater critical and commercial success than its predecesors.

Synopsis
One year after stopping Emperor Pilaf from taking over the worl, Goku now finds himself being traned by Master Roshi along with a young boy named Krillin. While Krillin's disdain for Goku is clear, the two must learn to work together when they find themselves hunted by the Red Ribbon, an evil organization who wants to take a Dragon Ball from them in order to take over the world. They soon met a young girl named Suno, who may be able to help them with their problems, and may be the key for Krillin to discover his inner power, just in time to stop the Red Ribbon from taking over the world.

Cast
A young monk who left his temple after being bullied, and Goku's new rival. Charles would describe his character as the "typical guy who acts like the bad guy because inside he's insecure 'cause he was treated the same way he treats people". Krillin's arc in the film would be based on a revelation during the Tournament Saga which revealed that Krillin was bullied before, which would inspire the production crew to further develop that aspect of the character's past. The production team would investigate how people who were bullied react in order to have an accurate representation of the effects of bullying in the character. A young and optimistic girl whose village was attacked by the Red Ribbon Army. Director Steven Spielberg would say that her arc in the film would consist of "discovering that the world is not full of rainbows and colors, but realizing it can be like that". A young general in the Red Ribbon, and Commander Red's most trusted ally, who previously bullied Krillin when both used to go to the same monk temple. The character's homosexuality would be removed in the film due to his antagonistic role in the film and the character's stereotypical potrayal in the original version. An Android at the service of the Red Ribbon Army, who is clnstantly abuded by General Blue. Producer Akira Toriyama would explain that the character "is there to showcase Krillin's growth, but also grows himself". Arden would draw inspiration for his performance from his work in the Disney stage musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2014).
 * Neel Sethi as Goku, a monkey-tailed boy who has spent his whole life in the mountains, before eventually choosing to be trained by Master Roshi.
 * Max Charles as Krillin:
 * Nina Lu as Suno:
 * Jackie Chan as Master Roshi, an old martial arts master who trains Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha.
 * Chris Zylka as General Blue:
 * Chloe Bennet as Bulma, a highly intelligent girl from the city who befriended Goku during her journey to gather the Dragon Balls, and who now lives with him in Kame House. Bennet would describe Bulma as "Suno's mentor", as she is "a girl who as seen the world and knows it very well".
 * Chris Cooper as General Red, the leader of the Red Ribbon Army.
 * Sean Gunn as Yamcha, a former desert bandit who choose to be trained by Master Roshi.
 * Michael Arden as Android 8:

Voices
A greedy antropomorphic pig and shapeshifter who is Puar's bully and one of Yamcha's former accomplices, who only wants Yamcha to make the choice that shall give them more money. Cooper would say that the film's events would cause "a little bit of growth and maturation" in the character.
 * Paul Rudd as Puar, an antropomorphic cat and shapeshifter who is Yamcha's best friend, whom Puar always tries to advice to make the right choice, to various degrees of success.
 * Bradley Cooper as Oolong:
 * Kari Wahlgren as Hahaoya: An anthropomorphic wolf and Suno's adoptive mother. Wahlgren said that she is "the light in Suno's world" and that the two share a close bond "that makes the adopted part irrelevant".
 * Scott Menville as Meishu: An anthropomorphic lion and chief of Jingle Village, who was captured by the Red Ribbon Army.

Music
Henry Jackman would return from the previous film to compose the sequel's score, which would contain motifs and elements from the anime's original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Goku's theme from the previous film would be featured in the sequel, throught it would be changed to sound "emotionally more mature, yet still very naive and jungle-like" to reflect Goku's growth in the previous film. Krilin's theme would be "a theme that sound as that of a jerk, but becomes sadder and sadder, but ultimately becomes hopeful" as the story progresses.

Critical reception
The film would have an aproval rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The critical consensus would read, "A reflective sequel that moves away from its predecessor enough to give fans an enjoyable fresh story in an established world, Krillin's Adventure is a story that makes way to both laughts and thoughts". On Metacritc, the film would have an weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Sequel
On May 27, 2027 it would be announced that a sequel to Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure would be in the works. During the San Diego Comic-Con, producer James Gunn confirmed that a sequel, titled Dragon Ball:Tao, based on the Commander Red Saga, would be in development, with Destin Daniel Crettom set to direct the film from an screenplay by David Callaham.

Trivia

 * Director Steven Spielberg would describe the film as "having an Indiana Jones tone, the heart of E.T., and the typical Dragon Ball action".
 * According to Spielberg, the reason the Muscle Tower would be significantly taller than in the manga would be "to give Blue the Disney Villain Death treatment".


 * Spielberg would say that the film "adapts the Red Ribbon Army Saga, but mostly outside the Muscle Tower", which he would explain would be "because setting the film in one place dosen't give room to character development".