Dragon Ball: Tao

Dragon Ball: Tao would be a 2030 American fantasy martial arts comedy-drama film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, written by David Callaham and Christina Hudson, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Toei Company, and Amblin Entertainment. A sequel to Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure, and a follow-up to Dr. Slump/Dragon Ball: The Franchise's First Crossover, the film would be based on the Japanese franchise Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. Toriyama would produce the film alongide Steven Spielberg, Kevin Feige, and James Gunn.

Neel Sethi, Chloe Bennet, Jackie Chan, Max Charles, Simu Liu, Chris Cooper, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd would star in the film, reprising their roles from previous films, while Wilson Bethel and Randall Duk Kim would join the cast as General Tao and the voice of Master Korin, respectively. Henry Jackman would return to compose the film's score alongside Brian Tyler.

Development on a third Dragon Ball film would be announced in May 27, 2027. Cretton, Callaham, and Hudson's involvement would be revealed during the San Diego Comic-Con. Bethel and Oz would join the cast in late 2028, with filming taking place between February and May 2029. The filmmakers would watch several martial arts films as inspiration for the film's plot.

Dragon Ball: Tao would be released on May 15, 2030. As its predecesors, the film would become a critical and financial hit, with critics praising its cast's performance, direction, screenplay, tone, visual effects and action sequences. The film would gross 1.2 billion dollars over a budget of 150 millions.

Synopsis
Set after Dr. Slump/Dragon Ball: The Franchise's First Crossover, Son Goku learns firsthand what is like to be defeated when General Red, enraged at his constants defeats at the hands of Goku and his friends, sends his most dangerous asset, a general named Tao Pai-Pai, to attack them at Kame House. Rescued at the last minute by a martial artist master named Korin, and with the odds against him and his friends, Goku has to learn the importance of losing in the path to victory or else the Red Ribbon army will take its revenge against them.

Cast

 * Neel Sethi as Goku: A boy who has expent most of his life in the mountains, before becoming a student of Master Roshi's. Sethi would say that the film "takes Goku to soe new places, both physically and emotionally", and would compare him to Simba from The Lion King (1994), as "they both have to learn from messing up". Producer Akira Toriyama would say that, since "Goku never had his butt kicked until the Commander Red Saga", the writers would write Goku's arc around "his first time being defeated".
 * Chloe Bennet as Bulma: A techno-savy girl from the city and one of Goku's best friends. Bennet would say that "since Bulma has the strongest connection with Goku, she is the only one who can get througth him", througth she would add that "first, she has to learn to listen". Director Destin Daniel Cretton said that the writers wanted to "keep her action techno girl" while "making her to learn that she has to understand what others feel".
 * Jackie Chan as Master Roshi, an old martial arts trainer and Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha's master. Chan would say that "Korin's entrance makes Roshi feel a little out of place".
 * Chris Cooper as Commander Red, the leader of the Red Ribbon Army, who plots revenge agains Goku and his friends after they constantly foled his plans for world domination. cooper wuld say that his character "becomes a little more determined, enraged, and bloodthirsty" in the film.
 * Wilson Bethel as General Tao Pai-Pai: A general in the Red Ribbon Army who is the army's most dangerous asset, and who is ordered to kill Goku and his friends. Bethel would descrbe the character as "the perfect killing machine: Unemotional, deteremined, and with a passion for killing". The character's depiction as a Red Ribbon Army general from Dragon Ball: Mystical Aventure would be used in the film because the filmmakers would see it as "the most organic way" to introduce the character in the film.
 * Max Charles as Krillin, a young boy and a former monk who becomes a student of Roshi's and one of Goku's friends.
 * Simu Liu as Yamcha, a former bandit and a friend of Goku's who choose to be trained by Master Roshi.

Voice cast

 * Randall Duk Kim as Korin: A wise cat and an ancient martial artist master who lives in the top of a giant tower that is at the top of the world. Duk Kim would compare him to the Star Wars character Yoda, calling him "the oldest guy in the room, with a lot of wisdom, and a great ability to fight". Producer Kevin Feige would call him "harsh, but funny at the same time"
 * Bradley Cooper as Oolong, a greedy pig and a former accomplice of Yamcha's
 * Paul Rudd as Puar, a cat who is Yamcha's best friend and former accomplice.

Music
Henry Jackman, who would have worked on the previous Dragon Ball films, would return to compose the score alongide Brian Tyler. As with previous films in the franchise, the score would feature motifs and elements from the anime's original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Executie music producer Hans Zimmer would say that Jackman would return to give the score continuity with the previous films' scores, while Tyler would be brought in to give it a "martial arts vibe". Being a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise, Tyer would say that "[he] would try to use [his] talents to their very best, and beyond if necessary".

The score would feature most of Jackman's themes from the previous films, througth with "a martial arts film twist". Jackman and Tyler would create a theme for Korin that "combines his wisdom, harsh training methods, and subtle sense of fun"., while Tyler would describe their theme for General Tao as "a way to make clear he's not joking in his job, and gives away his merciless personality".

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film would have an approval rating of 90% based on 276 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The website's critical consensus would read, "Once again combining the good things of Dragon Ball with charm, emotion, and heart, Dragon Ball: Tao capitalizes its franchise's live-action success by making good use of its winning formula, delivering another film that combines easily Dragon Ball fans with audiences who just want a good movie". On Metacritic, the film would have a weighted rating of 77 out of 100, based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Sequel
In early 2030, it would be reported that a fourth Dragon Ball film would be in early development, with Justin Marks writing the screenplay and Jon Favreau being in talks to direct the film. In the San Diego Comic-Con the film would be announced with the title Dragon Ball: The Story of Tien, with Favreau being confirmed as the film's director and Hiroyuki Sanada, Tony Leung, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey being cast in the roles of Tien Shin Ha, Master Shen, and the voice of Chiaotzu, respectively. The film would reportedly have a darker tone than previous Dragon Ball films.

Trivia

 * The film would mark the second time Brian Tyler and Randall Duk Kim work on a Dragon Ball film, after 20th Century Fox's Dragonball Evolution (2009).
 * Destin Daniel Cretton, Daniel Callaham, Simu Liu, and Kevin Feige previously worked together on Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).