Pyro Studios torching Planet 51

THQ scored one of the biggest hits of 2006 with its film-to-game translation of Pixar's Cars. The success has made game adaptations of lighthearted animated films a foregone conclusion, and that stands true for New Line Cinema's upcoming production of Planet 51, as detailed by The Hollywood Reporter today.

Pyro Studios, creator of the Eidos-published Commandos line of WWII games, will be developing Planet 51 for "five leading console platforms." No indication was given on which platforms these would be, though it will presumably be the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PC. The games will be released in tandem with the film sometime in March 2009.

Although details on the game are nonexistent, some story details on Planet 51 have emerged. Set on Planet 51, the film follows the unwitting alien invasion by Capt. Charles "Chuck" Baker of Earth. After landing, Chuck incites fear in the planet's denizens and attempts to flee hostile environments before being captured. The screenplay has been penned by Joe Stillman (Shrek), and the movie will be directed by Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad, and Marcos Martinez. Both Blanco and Martinez previously worked at Pyro Studios on the Commandos series of games.

New Line Cinema has purchased the rights to Ilion Animation Studios' upcoming feature for a reported $60 million from Handmade Films International. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, Planet 51 will be the first animated feature produced by New Line Cinema since its inception in 1967. New Line Cinema is currently attached to a handful of other game-film projects, including an adaptation of Epic Games' Gears of War.