According to Variety, BBC Worldwide Prods has picked up a retelling of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” to be produced as a Web series that will also air as a telepic on Beeb outlets.

Producer Adrian Askarieh is attached to the project and is producing it with BBC Worldwide. Paul Busenitz wrote the script based on an idea by Askarieh that modernizes the tale as a teen thriller in the vein of “Disturbia.”

The story is about a boy, Peter, who lives with his grandfather. They live near the forest where the big wolf is roaming freely. Peter, who loves to run free with his animal friends, is told to stay inside so that he is safe from the wolf. He obeys sullenly and watches his friend, the duck, being attacked and devoured by the beast.

He wants to take revenge and manages to get out of the hut. He hunts the wolf and catches him with a rope. Three hunters who have also been looking for the wolf, find him with his quarry. They accompany him on his triumphant way home.

Askarieh said this about the project:

“I always wanted to get involved in the world of high-end live action serialized genre story telling for the Web and the digital world. This is a great opportunity to work with people at BBC who really know this format inside and out and also have tremendous enthusiasm for Paul’s great script.”

Askarieh has set up “Leonardo Da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever” at Warner Bros.Pictures, a project that turns the famed artist into an action hero. He’s also behind “Hitman”, as well as adaptations of the “Just Cause” and “Kane & Lynch” videogames.

In addition the trade also reports that the “Peter and the Wolf” project will launch as a 10-part live action digital series for the Web. The episodes will then be assembled and distributed on DVD and on BBC’s networks and affiliates as a feature-length pic.

Source: Variety