To celebrate Goku Day, Toei Animation has officially confirmed that a brand-new Dragon Ball Super movie will release in 2022.
The new Dragon Ball Super movie acts as a follow-up to Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which first hit theaters back in 2018. Like with Broly, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama is leading the charge on the sequel's story. That being said, Toei has not revealed the film's official title or logo, nor is any key art available at this time.
"The new release will be the second film based on Dragon Ball Super, the manga title and the anime series which launched in 2015. The first such movie was the 2018 release Dragon Ball Super: Broly which was a smash hit with audiences -- setting a worldwide box office record of over $120 million," Toei said in its official statement.
"Planning for the new film project was kicked-off in 2018, before the release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, with the goal of telling a large-scale story that would build on the enthusiastic response for the previous theatrical series and the current global fervor for Broly," the company continued. "Akira Toriyama himself has picked up his pen to deliver a fascinating story that fans desire. From the magnificent story composition to character design to the lines of the script, Toriyama has worked passionately with the greatest attention to detail and highest quality standards -- creating a Dragon Ball movie unlike any other in its history and one that will surely be a blockbuster with fans."
Toriyama himself also issued a statement in the form of a signed fan message. "An all new movie since Dragon Ball Super: Broly is currently in the making!" it reads. "Just like the previous movie, I'm heavily leading the story and dialogue production for another amazing film. I really shouldn't talk too much about the plot yet, but be prepared for some extreme and entertaining bouts, which may feature an unexpected character. We'll be charting through some unexplored territory in terms of the visual aesthetics to give the audience an amazing ride, so I hope everybody will look forward to the new movie!"
Written by Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou, the Dragon Ball Super manga premiered in June 2015 as a sequel to Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga, which ran from 1984 to 1995. The Dragon Ball Super anime launched in Japan one month after the manga, running for 131 episodes from July 2015 to March 2018. An English dub aired on Toonami in the United States from January 2017 to October 2019.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly premiered in December 2018 as the first film to carry the Dragon Ball Super branding. It is also the 20th Dragon Ball feature film overall, though only the third to be made with Toriyama's direct involvement. While Toei has officially announced that the second Dragon Ball Super movie will arrive next year in order to commemorate this year's Goku Day, in-the-know fans did have some advance notice, with an announcement accidentally leaking on Toei's official website a few days early.
The second Dragon Ball Super movie does not currently have an official title. The film is slated to release in 2022.
Source: Toei Animation