MUMBAI: DreamWorks Studios and Universal Pictures have acquired the rights to Platinum Studios’ graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens.

Created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys and Aliens was published in 2006 by Platinum Studios. Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby are expected to adapt the science fiction western adventure for the screen. DreamWorks and Universal are co-developing and will co-produce the live-action feature film adaptation.

Academy Award winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will produce for Imagine Entertainment, along with Platinum Studios’ Chairman and CEO, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Ervin Rustemagic and Rich Marincic of Platinum Studios will co-produce.

Kurtzman and Orci currently have an overall producing deal with DreamWorks Studios. They wrote the screenplays for two DreamWorks projects, next month’s Transformers and 2005’s The Island. Among their other writing credits are Mission: Impossible III, The Legend of Zorro, and next year’s Star Trek, which they are also executive producing. They also served as producers and writers on the hit TV series, Alias.