Dragonball Z is go

Fox has been sitting on the rights to a live-action DRAGONBALL Z feature for years now, but apparently they’ve finally saved up enough to budget for all the required styling product and computer-rendered speed lines.

James Wong (FINAL DESTINATION) is directing the flick, based on the the seemingly endless animated Japanese import about fighters with oversized heads, exaggerated physiques and dangerously sharp hair as they train their outlandish martial arts skills and energetically beat the crap out of evil opponents as the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. Wong also wrote the script, as far as that might be necessary.

Justin Chatwin (Tom Cruise’s annoying son in WAR OF THE WORLDS) plays the hero Goku, while James Marsters (best known as vampire Spike from TV’s BUFFY and ANGEL) will be the villain Piccolo. Shooting begins later this month, with stunt performers/trainers 87Eleven (THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, 300) assisting with the ludicrous punches. The film’s release is planned for August 2008.

Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow (KUNG FU HUSTLE) is producing, which is pretty much the only thing about the whole project that interests me.

DRAGONBALL, created by Akira Toriyama, has been seen in countless manga volumes, videogames, ongoing cartoon series, and direct-to-video releases.