Indie producer Copperheart Entertainment is to adapt Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern fantasy book series for the big screen, with Entertainment One to take key international territories, including Canada.

Copperheart, which had success with Vincenzo Natali’s 2005 sci-fi thriller Splice, has enlisted David Hayter (Watchmen, X-Men) of Dark Hero Studios to pen a screenplay based on Dragonflight, the first novel in the classic Dragonriders of Pern series.

No word on a director for the big screen adaptation.

Key members of the production team behind Splice are also regrouping to adapt the Dragonriders of Pern series.

Copperheart’s Steve Hoban and Benedict Carver of Dark Hero Studios will produce the film.

Transformers producer Don Murphy and Susan Montford of Angry Films, who also executive produced Splice, and Hayter will executive produce the Dragonriders of Pern adaptation.

Production is scheduled to start in early 2012.

The Dragonriders of Pern book series was first launched in 1968, and have already been turned into video games, board games and graphic novels.

“These books have remained popular bestsellers for over forty years because of their breathtaking adventures, vivid cast of characters and spectacular creatures,” Hoban said in a statement.

The Dragonflight novel features an elite group of warriors that fly on the backs of giant, fire-breathing dragons to save the exotic planet of Pern from an airborne menace.

The Dragonriders of Pern screen adaptation will be structured as an international co-production and financed by foreign distribution partners.

Entertainment One, which has a first look deal with Dark Hero Studios, has acquired the distribution rights for Canada and is in talks on additional territories, including Britain, the Benelux and Australia.

Entertainment One earlier released Splice in Canada.