New Line Cinema has bought a pitch from Shrek Forever After's Darren Lemke which reworks E.T.W. Hoffman's classic fantasy story, The Nutcracker, as an action adventure movie.

Hoffman's story The Nutcracker and The Mouse King was written in 1816 and sees a young girl whisked away to a land populated by dolls after her favourite toy, the Nutcracker, comes to life and rescues her from the evil Mouse King. It became the basis for Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet.

Lemke was the original writer on Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Killer, another reinterpretation of fairytale stories into a more contemporary vein. The new version will be produced by Temple Hill Entertainment, who have recently had success with the Twilight sequel New Moon.

Although there have been numerous animated adaptations of the story, New Line's film will be the first English-language live action version.