The movie Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, the first Dragon Ball Z film, was released in Japan.
Prior success and popularity of the Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama laid the foundation for the creation of the Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone movie.
The film Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone was later released internationally, expanding the Dragon Ball Z franchise outside Japan.
Watched this in theaters. Was a fun popcorn movie. I didn't like it as much as the first movie though. The nostalgia moments are a lot of fun for me, but the first movie had a ton of those too.
I need to rewatch this and see if it moves from a like to a favorite for me. I forget about it, see it mentioned, and remember that it was way better than I thought it was going to be. This is a great one to watch if you haven't yet.
Finally got to see this in theaters - it's a lovely movie. One of the higher quality family-friendly sci fi movies in a LONG time. The part I liked least about the book was the humor - movie was the same. Which speaks to how good the adaptation was.