Dragon Ball has been in the midst of a major turnaround as it celebrates its 40th anniversary, and now there’s a question of whether or not Dragon Ball Super could be returning with a new movie someday. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is currently the most recent story for the Dragon Ball Super franchise in both its anime and manga releases, but the franchise has been on an indefinite hiatus following the passing of original creator Akira Toriyama. In the meantime, fans have been treated to a brand new Dragon Ball anime series with Dragon Ball Daima with a brand new story never seen before.
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Even with all of the success currently enjoyed by Dragon Ball Daima, there’s still a desire from many fans to see Dragon Ball Super return with a new anime project someday. With a new financial report from Toei Animation (as spotted by @DragonBall09876 on X) seemingly teasing that they will be releasing two new movies within the 2026 financial year (which ranges from Spring 2025 to Spring 2026). Could one of these be a new Dragon Ball movie, or potentially even a new Dragon Ball Super movie? It’s not improbable, but unlikely at this early point.
Is Dragon Ball Super Coming Back?
Fans have been asking for more of Dragon Ball Super’s TV anime ever since it came to an end in 2018, but in the time since we’ve seen the story continue with new manga arcs and two feature film releases. Bringing Dragon Ball Super back with a new feature film isn’t the wildest idea to consider. While fans might want to see the manga’s story adapted, it could potentially take the route of introducing a brand new story instead like the first two movies. But if the franchise were to return with new stories, it’s more likely that we’ll see it come back in manga form first.
Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotaro has previously teased a potential continuation of the manga following Toriyama’s passing, and there’s a clear runway with the debut of Black Frieza providing the next major foe for Goku and Vegeta to face in the future. Some of the latest developments in Dragon Ball Daima are also clearly tying this new anime into Dragon Ball Super‘s wider multiverse, so the groundwork is there for the franchise to come back. But if we’re getting a Dragon Ball movie of any kind, it might be in this new timeline expanded by Dragon Ball Daima instead.
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What Will the Next Dragon Ball Movie Look Like?
If Toei Animation does have a new Dragon Ball movie planned, it’s more likely going to follow Dragon Ball Daima. This new series is set about a year after the events of the Majin Buu arc and before the events of Battle of Gods. This has opened up the series to all sorts of potential stories for its new exploration of the Demon Realm. Each episode of this new anime thus far has been opening up the wider franchise in some huge ways, and has resulted in fans changing their understanding of the Buu arc forever. This makes it prime for an exploration into this gap of time between Daima and Super.
Those behind the Dragon Ball franchise have expressed their clear desire to continue the anime releases following the end of Dragon Ball Daima, and a new movie would fit right into that plan. But Toei Animation also has a number of other major franchises under their belt that could also receive a new movie project instead. Because while Dragon Ball is hot with fans right now, it’s not the only successful franchise that they have at their disposal that could be teased in this new financial report.
With franchises like One Piece, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Precure and more getting theatrical feature film releases in the past, any number of them can get their own new movie release before Dragon Ball. So it’s not completely outside of the realm of possibility that Dragon Ball could have a new film in the works, but at this point it might be a much bigger ask for it to be a new Dragon Ball Super movie project as well. Dragon Ball Daima is essentially crafting a whole new identity for the franchise moving forward, and it’s likely going to get the attention for new anime releases before anything else.
So if fans are lucky, we could be seeing new Dragon Ball Super manga arcs while a Dragon Ball Daima inspired movie hits theaters around the same time. It’s a bit too early to tell whether or not these plans are actually in the cards, but with Jump Festa 2025 around the corner in just a few more days maybe things will change.
