Dragon Ball Celebrates Goku With a Movie Bundle You Won't Want to Miss

With the smashing reception to Dragon Ball Daima, Akira Toriyama's beloved forty-year-old franchise has been getting reappraisals for even its earliest work. Beyond the somewhat predictable spike in discussion about Dragon Ball Z, Super, and even GT, the public eye has recently shifted back onto the original Dragon Ball. As Toei Animation on X (formerly Twitter) announced on November 13, 2024, Apple TV and iTunes have the Dragon Ball 4-Film Collection for purchase. These movies famously show Toei Animation's feature-length products about Goku's earliest adventures.

Dragon Ball has a long history with film, with its earliest project, Curse of the Blood Rubies, first debuting in cinemas in December 20, 1986. The franchise regularly draws revenue, with the latest iteration, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero,raking in over $100 million at the international box office. This is due to viewers having a healthy appreciation for the higher film budgets, often making better-animated fight sequences, and the original Dragon Ball films are no exception.

Apple TV and iTunes Now Offer a Dragon Ball 4-Film Collection

Four Movies Across a Decade of Dragon Ball

As announced by Toei Animation, the Dragon Ball 4-Film Collection is available on iTunes and Apple TV, with the movies previously spotted back in 2018 by users on Kanzenshuu. With the original Dragon Ball anime debuting in February 1986, the series didn't even take a full year before the resulting fervor generated its first movie. Within the decade, four films for the original series emerged, generating billions of yen at the Japanese box office and ultimately getting DVD box set releases for physical media collectors.

This highlights Apple TV and the iTunes platforms as unique spots to watch Dragon Ball-related content online, with their distinction as the best overall place to digitally purchase their films. The bundle itself is a heavily discounted package for Dragon Ball fans looking to watch their favorite stories on-demand without perhaps the shelf space for the available DVD box sets. However, these films stand out from the later Dragon Ball Z projects in some noteworthy cases.

Early Dragon Ball Films Gained Renewed Relevance with Dragon Ball Daima

Kid Goku's First Adventures Have Aged Well on Film

Along with being well-animated adventures in their own right, the final original Dragon Ball film, The Path to Power, aged well thanks to excellent choreography and animation. The original Dragon Ball films largely either borrow from pre-existing story arcs, like Mystical Adventure, or are an elegant reboot and swan song for the original series in The Path to Power's case. With Goku being shrunk down to child form along with his friends in Dragon Ball Daima, these films offer insight into how brave and resourceful a fighter was even at his weakest points, resulting in thrilling and charming adventures.

Sources: Kanzenshuu, Toei Animation, Apple TV, and iTunes Store

Dragon Ball

From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku's never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

Created by Akira Toriyama

First Film Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Latest TV Show Super Dragon Ball Heroes

First Episode Air Date April 26, 1989

Latest Episode 2019-10-05

Cast Sean Schemmel , Laura Bailey , Brian Drummond , Christopher Sabat , Scott McNeil

Summary

From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku's never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.