MUMBAI: Robert Rodriguez, who has earlier created Planet Terror, Sin City, Spy Kids and El Mariachi, will now direct Barbarella, a new motion picture adaptation of the classic science-fiction comic book series.

Universal Pictures will distribute the film for producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis. The film will be released worldwide in 2008.

Barbarella tells the story of a female mercenary who roams the universe in a distant future, undertaking missions that require her physical fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality. In travels that span galaxies known and unknown, Barbarella will challenge tradition, startle the senses and take audiences on an epic adventure of discovery and wonder.

Barbarella made her debut in 1962 in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest, and her adventures have been published around the world. The first film version, starring Jane Fonda and also produced by Dino De Laurentiis, was released in 1968.

Rodriguez is working with writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who are developing a completely original adventure for Barbarella. Purvis and Wade co-wrote the phenomenally successful Casino Royale and have recently finished work on the next installment in the James Bond franchise, Bond 22.