After being delayed due to a ransomware attack, Toei Animation finally commits to a new premiere date for the next Dragon Ball movie.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will now premiere in Japan on June 11.
The new premiere date was finally confirmed with an official announcement on the Dragon Ball website. As a listing for the novelizations of the movie previously suggested, the movie has been pushed back from its original April 22 release date and will now premiere in Japan this summer. No details about the movie’s international release were announced; prior to the delay, Super Hero was originally planned to release in North America sometime this summer. It is still unknown if those plans remain in place or if the movie’s western release has also been pushed back.
The original release date for the movie was scrapped after Toei Animation was targeted by a ransomware attack, which affected production on several of the studio’s most popular properties. According to the studio, an unauthorized third party gained access to the company’s private servers, prompting an extended shutdown of its network. In addition to Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, several of Toei’s TV anime series, including the One Piece and Digimon: Ghost Game anime, had to delay the release of new episodes by over six weeks.
Super Hero tells an original story set several years after the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The movie features the return of some of Goku’s oldest foes, the Red Ribbon Army, who have once again created a pair of android warriors to exact revenge on their Saiyan nemesis. While Goku has traditionally been the Red Ribbon Army’s main target, the movie will concentrate on the master/disciple relationship between Goku’s son, Gohan, and his original martial arts master, Piccolo. The Namekian will also receive a new transformation in the movie, whose name is tentatively being translated as the “Potential Unlocked” form, which gives the former-villain a golden color scheme. Gohan’s daughter, Pan, will also feature heavily in the story, as she is now old enough to begin learning martial arts and has become Piccolo’s latest pupil.
While the series’ animated entries have had to shift their schedule around, the Dragon Ball Super manga has continued publication without delay, and is currently nearing the end of its current story arc, the Granolah the Survivor saga. The next installment is scheduled to be released on April 20, the same week that Super Hero was originally planned to premiere.
The Dragon Ball Super manga is available in English from VIZ Media. All of the classic Dragon Ball TV anime series, including Dragon Ball Super, are now available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Source: Dragon Ball Official Website
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