The official Dragon Ball website for Japan has recently released an interview with Akio Iyoku, the head of Toei's "Dragon Room", a special division recently created at the animation studio that's focusing on nothing but Dragon Ball related projects. A translation of the interview has been provided by the DBZ communities leading translator,
@Herms98 and compiled on
Reddit. Here's what was revealed:
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December's 20th animated Dragon Ball movie will be multilayered and switch back-and-forth between the past and present day.
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Akira Toriyama worked on the project via email, supplying 20 pages of original character designs, machines and 1 new planet
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Work on the project started in Spring 2017, with Toei submitting ideas to Toriyama for a new film - which he all rejected. In turn, Toriyama went off to develop his own ideas for a film and that's where work on the new film began in earnest.
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In addition to the emails, Akira meets with Toei staff every two months or so to review progress on the project.
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The initial story for the film was agreed upon in May 2017. At the outset, it was thought to be too short, Since then it was expanded but then became too long. Current work on the project is deciding what should be trimmed or removed.
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In the end, Toriyama's hand-picked character designer was Naohiro Shintani. While screening candidates, one of the things Toriyama looked for was whether the artist could create characters that looked cool facing forward and not just in profile.
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Ikoyu seemed to walk back previous reports of a simultaneous worldwide release for the film, citing that effort for localized released would take place after the film was released in Japan
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The interview with Ikoyu was the first in a new series that will be titled DB Movie Frontline, that will appear sporadically on the official Dragon Ball site. Subsequent interview will feature other key staff members at Toei
Ikoyu's comments match up with previously revealed intel which stated that the new film would depict events surrounding the birth of the very first Super Saiyan God Yamoshi (who was also the first Super Saiyan of legend). Toriyama has also revealed that the film will dive into the relationship between Frieza and the Saiyan race so it appears that flashbacks will show various points in the history of the Saiyan race.
The Dragon Ball Super Movie is scheduled for release on December 14, 2018.