Dragon Ball is back at the box office, like it’s never really gone away — and for the first time, Crunchyroll is taking one of its upcoming anime movies and releasing it around the world, instead of just in American theatres.
Super Hero, the next film in the Dragon Ball Super saga, is set to hit Japanese theatres on June 11 — but shortly after some time in summer, Crunchyroll will release the movie worldwide in subtitled and dubbed formats, hitting markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Africa, the Middle East, and Asian territories excluding Japan. Although Crunchyroll has distributed films in North America in the past, it will team up with its owner Sony Pictures to distribute Super Hero in non-American markets, thanks in part to the company’s recent megamerger between the streamer and its other anime acquisition, Funimation — who itself would otherwise have previously helped to distribute anime titles through other international partners in the past. That doesn’t need to happen when you fusion dance into what is one of the biggest monopolies in anime distribution outside of Japan, apparently!
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero — directed by Tetsuro Kodama and featuring a new original story and character designs from iconic Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama — follows Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, and their friends as they confront a threat from Goku’s past. The Red Ribbon Army, defeated by Goku as a child in the original Dragon Ball, has returned reborn as the helpfully named New Red Ribbon Army, backed by the power of two newly created Android warriors, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. Calling themselves Super Heroes, Goku and his friends have to rise to the occasion and face their new foes to discover what the resurgent Red Ribbon Army is up to… and, of course, do a lot of powering up and fighting along the way.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will release outside of Japan this summer.
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Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.