Source: Japan Today
Ayumi Hamasaki has landed a major muscal achievement. The J-pop star was named as the artist who will record the theme song for the upcoming live-action movie adaptation of Dragonball. The film entitled "Dragonball Evolution" is scheduled for release on April 8th, 2009.
The cast includes Justin Chatwin in the lead role of Goku, James Marsters as his nemesis Lord Piccolo, and Chow Yun-Fat as Master Roshi.
It will feature Hamasaki's original Japanese language song "Rule" as its main theme for all distribution worldwide.
Though the Japanese release of major Hollywood productions often uses a theme by a Japanese artist, it's very rare for a J-pop star to get this level of global exposure. And when it's in tandem with the kind of blockbuster marketing support that only Hollywood studios can provide, this has to be a major step up in Hamasaki's already stellar career.
Director James Wong is said to be a big fan of Ayu and personally requested that she be involved.
Hamasaki has provided four theme songs for Japanese movies, including "Kizudarake no Otokotachi" (Secret) and "Kaidan" (Fated) in 2007. For her first overseas collaboration, she's written what's described as an uptempo rock number.
The Dragonball manga series has sold an estimated 350 million copies worldwide.
Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" due to her popularity and widespread influence in Japan. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to pursue a career in entertainment. In 1998, under the tutelage of Avex CEO Max Matsuura, she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for XX. The album debuted atop the Oricon charts and stayed there for four weeks, establishing her popularity in Japan.
Because of her constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry, Hamasaki's popularity extends across Asia; music and fashion trends she has started have spread to countries like China, Singapore, and Taiwan. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, she later reconsidered and eventually opposed her status as an Avex "product".
Since her 1998 debut with the single "Poker Face", Hamasaki has sold around 50 million records in Japan, ranking her among the best-selling singers in the country. As a female singer, Hamasaki holds several domestic records for her singles, such as the most number-one hits, the highest sales, and the most million-sellers. No year from 1999 to 2008 had passed without one of her singles at the top of the charts. Hamasaki is also the first female singer to have eight studio albums that topped the Oricon.
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