James McAvoy has landed the starring role in Universal Pictures' WANTED, a sci-fi actioner that will mark the English-language debut of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, says The Hollywood Reporter.

WANTED is based on a comic book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones published by Top Cow.

The story follows a put-upon young man who discovers that his long-lost father is an assassin. After his dad is murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization of killers and trained to follow in his father's footsteps.

The comic is considered hard-core, and the movie probably will be rated R. Universal-based Marc Platt set up the series in March 2004 and will produce with Jason Netter and Jim Lemley. Top Cow's Marc Silvestri is exec producing.