LOS ANGELES: Movie mogul Steven Spielberg is to make a film version of Orson Welles’ ‘The War of the Worlds’, the sci-fi drama that seamed panic across US in the 1930s, the industry press said on March 17.

Hollywood icon Tom Cruise will produce and star in the film based on HG Wells’ classic book that will be directed by Spielberg.

Daily Variety said production on the movie, the story of a Martian invasion of planet earth, could start in late 2005 after a first draft of the script has been re-written and after Spielberg completes his current film, ‘The Terminal’, starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the industry bible said. Cruise and his production company persuaded Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures to take on the movie in May last year and now Spielberg’s DreamWorks SKG is also expected to get in on the act, Variety said.

A film version of the book was made in 1953 but did not leave a major lasting impression on audiences. — AFP