Unveiled with much fanfare by Emmanuel Macron and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman a little over a week ago, the plan for three theme parks near Cergy-Pontoise, in the Val-d'Oise, was set to include a gigantic park dedicated to Dragon Ball. But only a few days after that announcement, the project is already facing a serious grey area: Toei Animation states that it has granted no authorisation whatsoever for a Dragon Ball park in France, and it has said so in a press release that couldn't be more official.
The announcement certainly made an impression: on 24 August, the French President and Mohammed bin Salman revealed a vast tourism and cultural development project on the outskirts of Paris, presented as a 6 billion euro Saudi investment.
Three theme parks are due to be built on the site of the former Mirapolis leisure park, roughly 35 kilometres north-west of the capital. One of them was to be devoted entirely to the universe created by Akira Toriyama. The project was even billed as one of the future major tourist hubs of the Paris region, with a promise of 22,000 direct jobs. One small problem: Dragon Ball's rights holders appear to have found out about the project at the same time as the general public...
Toei Animation denies granting any authorisation
Asked about the announcement, Toei Animation, one of the main holders of the rights to exploit Dragon Ball, wanted to set the record straight. The Japanese studio states that it has not authorised any Dragon Ball park project in France and says it is unaware of any agreement matching what was presented publicly. It's a particularly awkward statement, given that the first communications around the French project used images and concept art that very clearly gave the impression a Dragon Ball park had already been approved and designed for France. According to Toei Animation, that is simply not the case. What's more, the images and videos used to illustrate the project were lifted from the visuals revealed in March 2024 for the announcement of the Dragon Ball Theme Park in Qiddiya City, Saudi Arabia. The confusion is total, the situation embarrassing, and neither France nor Saudi Arabia has spoken up so far.
Same story at Shueisha...
Worse still, the situation doesn't stop with Toei Animation, since Shueisha, the Japanese publisher behind the Dragon Ball manga, has reportedly also said it is not involved in the French project. For its part, Bandai Namco, another major player in the exploitation of the Dragon Ball licence in video games, declined to comment on the announcement. All these reactions raise one essential question: what exactly is the French announcement of a Dragon Ball park based on?
The Saudi project is very much real
The confusion is all the more understandable given that the Qiddiya Dragon Ball project is genuinely real, remarkably ambitious, and already under construction. Saudi Arabia has been working for several years on an enormous park devoted entirely to Akira Toriyama's universe, as part of the development of Qiddiya City. Plans include attractions inspired by the franchise's various locations and characters, as well as a colossal rollercoaster in the shape of Shenron. Qiddiya Investment Company, which is leading the Saudi development, has also said it is in discussions with various international intellectual property holders. But the Saudi project and the one announced in France are two entirely separate matters.
For now, the French Dragon Ball park has no announced opening date, and given what's going on behind the scenes, the whole thing may already be running late...
