Literary classic The Little Prince is to be turned into a Hollywood film.

The book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery tells the story of a pilot who crash lands in the Sahara desert and meets a mysterious young boy who claims to be a prince from a distant world.

First published in 1943, the magical tale has sold 25 million copies worldwide and been printed in 150 languages.

Now it is to be made into an animated movie by Pathe, the film company behind Chicken Run.

Bosses hope it will rival the huge success of Chicken Run, which became the highest grossing British animation film of all time.

Pathe are also working on The Magic Roundabout Movie, with Robbie Williams voicing Dougal and Kylie Minogue as Florence.

A Pathe spokesman said: "The Little Prince's magical words and images are deeply rooted in the imagination of generations of children around the world.

"Based on our experience with Chicken Run and The Magic Roundabout, we intend to make a feature film that uses the very best animation techniques and talents."

French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery was himself a pilot and his plane vanished over the Mediterranean a year after his book was published.

The Little Prince recently made it into the Top 200 books compiled by the BBC for The Big Read.

Source: Press Release