According to the Hollywood Reporter, Twentieth Century Fox has acquired the live action feature film rights to Akira Toriyama's supremely successful Dragon Ball Z.  DBZ has been an enormous success as a manga, an anime series, in various video game incarnations, and as toy, game, and other product lines.  Including the original Dragon Ball series and DBZ, Toei Animation has produced more than 500 episodes based on the property -- and DBZ remains the top-rated show on the Cartoon Network (see 'DBZ Rules').

 

The Reporter speculates that Fox is hoping to turn DBZ into a live action 'franchise' that will ape the success that the property has had in other media.  Although those familiar with the series may think that Fox has a daunting task to realize its dream, the fact that the studio acquired the rights speaks to the increasing influence of anime and manga on Hollywood.  That influence has just been extended to one of the most popular manga/anime series ever created.