Japan’s Toei Animation announced Friday that the highly anticipated feature film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will not make its domestic April 22 release date due to a hack of the company’s network this month. Super Hero, which is a toon-shaded CGI entry in the famous Dragon Ball franchise, was announced during the Goku Day celebrations in May 2021 and slated for a North American release this summer.
Following up from box office hit Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the new film focuses on Gohan and Piccolo, as a large collection of super heroes assembles for an epic, action-packed battle. Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama wrote the story and dialogue and also provided new designs for the characters — including some brand-new faces.
Tetsuro Kodama is directing the 21st Dragon Ball movie, with Nobuhito Sue as art director, Chikashi Kubota as animation director, Jae Hoon Jung as CG director and music by composer Naoki Satō.
Toei announced on March 11 that an unauthorized third party had accessed the company’s network, which led to a partial shutdown. As the studio continues to investigate, delays related to the hack will also hit the broadcast schedules for popular anime series on Japanese channels:
- TV Asahi was unable to air Delicious Party Precure episode 6 on March 13, and will be airing Hugtto! Precure Futari wa Precure All Stars Memories in three parts Sundays instead of new episodes.
- Fuji TV is airing reruns and recap episodes of One Piece and Digimon Ghost Game from March 20.
- TV Tokyo will not have new episodes of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai through April 2.
Dragon Ball debuted in 1984 as a manga by Toriyama, published in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump and quickly becoming a top-ranked title throughout its 10 1/2 years of publication. To date, the manga has sold over 260 million copies sold worldwide. The franchise has expanded to include TV animation, movies, games and merchandising. The 2018 feature film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, set a worldwide box-office record of over $120 million.
[Source: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Official via Anime News Network]
