It might not be the best quality image, but the first glimpse of Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds) as the anime hero, Goku, has finally hit the net -- and I have to admit, it doesn't look half-bad. A dedicated Dragonball Z fan submitted a scan from the Japanese magazine Shonen Jump to the Dragonball fan site (see to the right; click to enlarge) and even though it's blurry and covered in Japanese, it does give me hope that the film won't be a total disaster. Fox has kept a tight grip on updates for the film, and other than a few MySpace entries from co-star Emmy Rossum, the most we have gotten was a leaked teaser poster.

Dragonball was written and directed by James Wong and tells the story of Goku, a young man locked in a struggle with the evil Piccolo (James Marsters) over some mystical globes known as 'dragon balls'. The debate over whether or not Chatwin was going to be able to pull off the classic manga character was a big source of contention among fans. It's not like it's easy to ignore the obvious racial 'disparity' in hiring Chatwin to play a guy that normally looks like this.

So what do you think? Now that we have finally seen Chatwin in all his manga glory, will it be enough to silence detractors? Or will it be the last piece of the puzzle that proves they were right all along?

Dragonball will arrive in theaters on April 8th, 2009.

Right on the heels of the delayed release date for Dragonball, Slashfilm has managed to score an early look at the teaser poster for the feature film, courtesy of blurry photos from a fan. Maybe it is because I am not all that familiar with the intricacies of Dragonball (beyond their awesome hairstyles), but this poster isn't exactly piquing my curiosity to find out -- and isn't that the whole point of a teaser?

Dragonball was written and directed by James Wong (Final Destination), and stars Justin Chatwin as Goku; a young man put on a quest to retrieve seven "mystical Dragonballs." James Marsters (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) plays Goku's nemesis Piccolo, who is also trying to get his hands on the orbs. Other classic Dragonball characters making an appearance in the film are Bulma (played by Emmy Rossum) and Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat). So can anyone tell me what exactly these Dragonballs are supposed to be? Because every time I have to read a line like "Goku searches for Dragonballs," I giggle like a 12 year old girl (call me immature if you must).

You can't really blame Fox for delaying the release date for the flick. Dragonball might be a favorite among fans of anime, but it definitely doesn't have the same audience reach as titles like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Tropic Thunder. Now that there is plenty of time before Dragonball hits theaters, I just hope that Fox can come up with some more exciting marketing materials. Dragonball is due to arrive in theaters on April 8th, 2009.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for movie-production blogging; what could be better than getting the information from the horse's mouth? That is unless they spend most of the time rambling about everything else. Unfortunately this is the case with Emmy Rossum's contribution to her MySpace page with news from the Dragonball set in Mexico. If you're looking for details, I wouldn't get too excited. There are a few hints, but for the most part the info you are going to get is that Rossum's character rides a motorcycle, and will have a lot of 'interaction' with Joon Park in the film, whatever that could mean.

Dragonball is based on the classic manga, Dragonball Z. Ben Ramsey's adaptation centers on "A young boy named Goku who seeks out upon his grandfather's dying request to find the great Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls (of which he has one) in order to prevent Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world". Rossum stars as Bulma, and is joined by Chow Yun Fat (Rossum's unlucky passenger on the motorcycle), James Marsters, Joon Park, and the hotly-debated Justin Chatwin as Goku.

The cast has been pretty chatty since the film started shooting in Mexico back in November. Just last week, Marsters, who plays Piccolo, gave a little pep-talk on the Dragonball blog about the film. Mainly it it was praise for director James Wong, which appears to be the opposite of most popular public opinion. Dragonball is still filming on location and is set to hit theaters on August 15th, 2009.

It looks like Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum are popping out of the woodwork today. Empire Online reports that in an interview with TV Guide, James Marsters (better known as Spike) gave them a few tidbits about the upcoming big-screen version of the classic anime, Dragonball Z. (Marsters plays Piccolo, the main baddie in the story.) The actor told TV Guide: "Oh, Dragonball is the coolest television cartoon in the last 50,000 years. It's got a Shakespearean sense of good and evil. The movie has incredible action scenes with characters with unbelievable powers. It's going to be really visually exciting." While I've got nothing against Dragonball Z, 'Shakespearean' is a bit of an overstatement.

News of the film adaptation first hit back in October, and the casting notices have been appearing fast and furious ever since. Joining Marsters is Chow-Yun Fat as Master Roshi, Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds) as Goku, and Emily Rossum as Bulma. James Wong adapted Akira Toriyama's original manga, and his script focuses on a "warrior alien who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the universe and controlling mystical objects known as Dragon Balls." When Wong first signed on to write and direct, it didn't exactly go over all that well with fans. Well, at least Wong has Marsters' vote of confidence; on the official Dragonball site, Marsters said: "I'm not really allowed to talk about any of the movie details, but I can say that (writer/director) James Wong is obviously a gifted and insightful director." Dragonball is currently shooting on location in Mexico, and is set for release on August 15th.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has signed on to play Master Roshi in the live-action adaptation of Dragonball. Rounding out the cast are Justin Chatwin (Tom Cruise's exceedingly obnoxious son in War of the Worlds), James Marsters (Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Emmy Rossum (from such disaster movies as The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, and The Phantom of the Opera), and Jamie Chung. Marsters will play Piccolo, Rossum will play Bulma, Chung will play Chi-Chi. Master Roshi is Goku's mentor, and he "helps him achieve the highest state of fighting and spiritual powers." He's the Yoda of Dragonball, if you will. James Wong (Final Destination) wrote the screenplay and is directing the film.

The world of Dragonball has already been made into several anime series, animated feature films, a live-action Chinese movie, action figures, a collectible trading card game, comic books, and electronic games. The new film will focus on Goku (Chatwin, whose Caucasian-ness didn't set well with Cinematical commentors), "a warrior alien who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the universe and controlling mystical objects known as Dragon Balls." Hm. I liked this movie better the first time when it was called Gandhi. I don't have much more to say on this project, so let me just ask you -- given the opportunity, do you think you would be able to handle Dragon Balls? Like if Dragon Balls were suddenly thrust into your face, would you know what to do with them? I am immature.

The moment has finally come. P.S. I Love You opens this week -- the sad and funny romcom that stars Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. You might remember my previous posts on the film. I've been following it ever since the production gave me my favorite example of spastic injuries back in November of last year, when Swank got hurt. Why? During one scene, Butler does a striptease, and a flying suspender beaned her on the head and required stitches. Since then, there's been a slew of images, and a trailer to check out. There was also the chance, earlier this month, to submit questions for Moviefone's Unscripted series. The questions were picked, Butler and Swank chatted away, and the new clip is now up over at Moviefone.

You'll get the chance to see Swank laugh a lot and give affection to Butler's new shoe, lots of talk of letter writing, and all that love-related sort of stuff. They even mention the accident, but only in passing, unfortunately. Most of the time, it's just the two joking around. Hearing how Butler talks about a scene that includes a powerful embrace surrounded by cheering music fans, it's no wonder that he's looking to stop the whole historical action drama theme. Gerry's got a big ole soft spot.

P.S. I Love You is the tale of a woman (Swank), who falls for the perfect Irish man (Butler), only to lose him to an illness. But he's not completely gone. To help his love get over the shock of his death, he's created a number of letters that get sent to her, guiding her to take chances and move on to her next love. Could it be Harry Connick, Jr.? Jeffrey Dean Morgan? James Marsters? Not bad choices at all. If only every girl could have those men to choose from.

Last month, we got a serving of James Marsters and Justin Chatwin for James Wong's upcoming Dragon Ball movie. Marsters signed on to play the villain Piccolo, while Chatwin nabbed the starring role of Goku. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, they will be teamed by a few women and another bad guy. First up is Emmy Rossum, Jake Gyllenhaal's love interest in The Day After Tomorrow. Aggravatingly, there's no word on who she'll play. However, there is some info on the other two additions. Eriko Tamura, who recently stole Hiro's heart on Heroes and made for quite the rift between the time traveler and Kensei, has signed on to play Mai, while Joon Park, who used to be a member of the Korean pop group G.O.D., has signed on to play Yamcha.*

So two more, at least, have joined the bad side -- unless Yamcha will show up as his reformed self. He is a thief who reforms and becomes a Z Fighter, while Mai is one of Emperor Pilaf's two minions. I imagine that means Pilaf will be cast soon, so that Piccolo has a someone to free him from his confinement in an electric rice cooker. Now, I love strange, zany stuff, and Dragon Ball is full of it, but can they really pull this off in any way that'll be amusing -- either in a serious or tacky way? I'm getting Super Mario flashbacks, and even that source material wasn't this wacky.

Also, HoyCinema has posted the pictures from the film's production, which don't show too much, but should give you an idea about the film's look.

*Unfortunately, Heroes fans, this means no chance for Hiro's lady to meet his best friend. According to earlier rumors, Ando (James Kyson Lee) was going to play Yamcha.

Usually huge masses of pictures come by way of superhero movies. Everyone is dying to see how different characters will be presented, and there's so many particular details to see that even a big pile of pictures won't spoil the final, cinematic outcome. Hell, the set pictures that just went up for Watchmen will only be the tip of the iceberg there -- fans still haven't glimpsed the heroes themselves, Nite Owl's ship, or any of the goodies sure to hit us at some point. But then sometimes, there are just a ton of pictures for a random, part-drama romcom. Rope of Silicon has just added 61 new images to their gallery for P.S. I Love You -- the film about the woman who gets letters from her husband about how to move on after he dies -- the same one where Hilary Swank was injured due to a suspender.

Sixty-one. Logic might make you wonder if they're showing a flip-book of the whole movie, which would be cool, but also pretty pointless and spoileriffic. No, instead these are a mixture of set and promotional pictures. There's Hilary Swank with dead hubbie Gerard Butler, smooches with Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who you'll see much more of once pics of his Comedian work in Watchmen hits the web), and lots of slightly-different shots. By that I mean shots they almost work like a flip -- hugging from far away, a close up, a lean-in for a kiss, an almost-kiss, the same pose in a different outfit... you get the idea. At least you can see James Marsters finally -- who looks to be gearing up to perform for Swank. Personally, an outtake with that suspender is all I'd need to see it, but maybe sixty-plus pictures will help convince some other people. The film opens on December 21 -- just in time for Christmas.

Well, now that James Wong's (Final Destination) manga film Dragon Ball [Z] has a location -- Mexico -- it's time to hear about the cast, and I have to say, at least one of these guys was someone I wasn't expecting. Variety reports that Justin Chatwin, the annoying, headstrong son from War of the Worlds and James Marsters, the bleached, lovelorn bad boy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer have both joined the cast. Chatwin will star as Goku, "a powerful warrior who protects Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name." He must have learned a lot when he ran into alien combat without a gun.

The thorn in his side, his foil, his enemy, will be played by Marsters, who is taking on the role of the film's villain, Piccolo. He is pure, concentrated evil who came from another being that split himself to rid himself of said evil. I don't think there'll be any sex or souls for Marsters in this job. So they'll go south of the border to start filming this later in the month, and Fox is hoping to unleash Dragon Ball in theaters on August 15. In the meantime, Chatwin is training for his stunts. I'm not manga fan, so this is where you guys come in -- are Chatwin and Marsters good fits for the roles? And if not, who should have been cast?

Cinematical isn't covering San Francisco's WonderCon this year, but we've been monitoring some of the more interesting news items that have floated out. Here's one that's being reported on IGN that may interest Superman nuts: during a DC Comics panel, Bruce Timm talked about a forthcoming animated feature film that will bring to life the 'Death of Superman' comic storyline, in which the Man of Steel was taken down by the interplanetary supervillain known as Doomsday. The film, which will run 72-minutes, is scheduled for DVD release on September 18.

Timm revealed during the panel that voice actors for the project will include Adam Baldwin as Superman, Anne Heche as Lois Lane, and James Marsters as Lex Luthor. Timm noted that fans will be getting a 'new take' on the Luthor character for this film. Furthermore, Timm prepared fans for 'adaptations and changes' from the original comic storyline, presumably to keep it fresh for the audience. He mentioned that major sub-plots from the original storyline would be cut out. Timm also unveiled a trailer for the new film, which showed Superman doing battle with Doomsday and re-created the iconic comic art of Lois cradling a dead Superman in her arms. The finale of the teaser was apparently a shot of Superman's hand punching through a grave!