Twentieth Century Fox has greenlit an adaptation of Akira Toriyama's revered manga comic book franchise Dragonball and set a worldwide release date of August 15, 2008.

Production will begin later this year on the sci-fi adventure which Kung Fu Hustle's Stephen Chow will produce and James Wong will direct from his own screenplay.

Justin Chatwin - who played Tom Cruise's son in War Of The Worlds - is set to star as the warrior Goku and James Marsters will portray his chief nemesis Piccolo.

The story will chart Goku's efforts to save Planet Earth from a slew of villains hell-bent on controlling the magical Dragonball talismans and thereby ruling the universe.

Toriyama's property has spawned graphic novels, multiple bestselling video games and a prolific television series that has aired in the US, Asia and Europe.

The Dragonball manga series is published by the Jump Comics division of Tokyo-based publishing house Shueisha.