In a bit of head-scratching movie news, the wildly successful Japanese manga ‘Dragonball’ is coming to the big screen — as a live-action movie.

Twentieth Century Fox has announced plans for a film adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s martial-arts action-fantasy series.

Two lead roles have already been cast. Canadian actor Justin Chatwin (“Weeds,” “War of the Worlds,” “The Invisible”) will play the superpowered hero Son Goku.

James Marsters, best-known as the vampire Spike in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” will play his nemesis Piccolo.

Producing will be Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow. North American audiences know him from martial-arts comedies like “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle.”

James Wong, a former writer and executive producer of “The X-Files” series and director of “Final Destination,” will direct.

The movie begins shooting this year and will hit theatres next August.

Toriyama created “Dragonball” in 1984. It was originally a manga (a Japanese genre of comics and cartoons) but has spawned graphic novels, video games and a hugely successful animated TV series that airs worldwide.

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