According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Jackson is producing DAMBUSTERS, a World War II aerial adventure that will mark the directorial debut of Christian Rivers, Jackson's animation director on "King Kong."

Universal Pictures and StudioCanal are co-financing the movie, with Universal handling worldwide rights excluding France and the U.K., where StudioCanal will distribute.

DAMBUSTERS is inspired by actual events as well as based on the book "The Dam Busters," by Paul Brickhill, and the 1954 Associated British Picture Corp. motion picture. The movie will chronicle the story of Operation Chastise, a top-secret Royal Air Force bombing mission that took place in 1943, when a group of airmen were assembled to fly Lancaster bombers deep within well-armed Germany at treetop level and, using special "bouncing bombs," destroy three dams essential to the Nazi steel industry.