France just got €6 billion for a Dragon Ball park — and the reason the Saudis chose Paris isn't about money at all
Somewhere in a drawer of alternate timelines there's a version of 2026 where international mega-deals get decided by spreadsheets, tax incentives, and men in gray suits saying "synergy." We do not live in that timeline.
We live in the one where €6 billion just landed in France because two heads of state found out they both love Goku.
On Monday, during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's two-day visit to Paris, France and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding for three theme parks near Cergy-Pontoise, about 30 kilometers northwest of Paris — and one of them is expected to be themed on Dragon Ball. Emmanuel Macron announced it himself, posting that the project will create some 22,000 jobs:
"Nothing like this has been seen since Disneyland Paris."
Sir. Sir. You are describing a Kamehameha-adjacent real estate project. And honestly? He's right.
How this actually happened
Here's the part I will be thinking about for the rest of the week. According to Macron's own office, the whole thing traces back to a December 2024 conversation in Riyadh, where the president and the crown prince discovered a "shared passion" for manga — and for Dragon Ball Z in particular.
Two of the most powerful men on the planet. In a room. Presumably surrounded by advisers holding binders about energy policy. Bonding over the Cell Saga. Every group chat you've ever been in has produced less consequential conversations, and yours didn't cost €6 billion.
The actual details, for the adults in the room
- Three parks total; only one theme (manga, likely Dragon Ball) has been revealed. The other two remain a mystery, which is French for "let us have this."
- The project is led by Qiddiya, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund — the same company that's been building the world's first Dragon Ball park in Saudi Arabia since 2024. So this is a franchise expansion, Senzu Beans and all.
- 22,000 direct jobs, which the Élysée helpfully notes edges out the roughly 20,000 generated by Disneyland Paris. Mickey found shaking.
- Construction happens in stages over several years, and nobody is committing to an opening date, which tracks for both theme parks and Dragon Ball power-up sequences.
Akira Toriyama, who created Dragon Ball in the 1980s and passed away in 2024, spent his career drawing a world where the fate of the planet gets settled by guys who mostly just want to fight and eat. He did not live to see two actual world leaders greenlight a multibillion-euro project because they're fans of his homework-avoidant alien. I choose to believe he would have found it extremely funny.
Anyway. See you in Cergy-Pontoise in [several years]. I'll be the one screaming for three episodes straight before anything happens.
