The Dragon Ball franchise's Goku is preparing for lift off at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade next month. The giant character balloon is 70 feet wide, 36 feet wide, and 56 feet tall and, through mockups, Goku looks incredibly detailed. The helium Goku balloon has cyan colored hair and eyes as well as his signature orange jump suit along with blue sash and boots. This gigantic Goku will soar over the streets of New York City with the assistance of more than 100 balloon handlers during the annual holiday parade.
The Goku balloon was created to help promote the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which hits theaters in January. Goku is one of the most recognizable heroes in all of Japanese animation and the helium balloon version of the character will be seen by more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of New York City and more than 50 million people who will be watching the celebration of the official start of the holiday season on TV. This will be some pretty good advertising for Dragon Ball Super: Broly when all is said and done. Thanksgiving is on November 22nd this year, and the parade will air from 9AM Eastern to noon.
Goku will join the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants, Snoopy, Big Bird, and other classic characters on Thanksgiving Day. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be the 92nd anniversary of the New York City event. In addition to Goku, Netflix's The Christmas Chronicles will also make its debut. Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the 20th film in the Dragon Ball franchise, and it follows the events of the recently concluded Dragon Ball Super anime series, which is the first new storyline from original creator Akira Toriyama in more than 18 years.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly was first announced in December of 2017 by Toei Animation and it's the third Dragon Ball film to be supervised by creator Akira Toriyama, following Resurrection F in 2015. The movie takes place after the Universe Survival Saga, and it features the protagonists Goku and Vegeta as they come across a new Saiyan called Broly. Additionally, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is set to include the connection of the Frieza army, along with the history of the Saiyans, which fans of the franchise are looking forward to.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly is set to be released on January 16th, 2019 in North America and December 14th, 2018 in Japan. The first trailers for the epic movie were released to coincide with this year's San Diego Comic-Con. A second official trailer for the film was released at the time of NYCC in October. While we haven't seen what the official Goku balloon will look like yet, we do have a video that shows how the gigantic balloon was designed, which you can watch below, thanks to the Funimation YouTube channel.
