Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong fantasy comic is set to be turned into a Lord of the Rings-style Hollywood movie in an 80-million-US-dollar adaptation, a media report said Saturday.

The rights to turn the comic, DevaShard, which draws inspiration from Sanskrit epics from ancient India, into a blockbuster film have been bought by CastleBright Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal, the South China Morning Post newspaper said.

Among the directors that have expressed interest in the project are John Woo and Alfonso Cuaron, who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

CastleBright Studios co-founder Jay Douglas said the movie rights to the comic were bought "because the groundwork done was exceptional and we felt that the storyline based on Asian mythology is going to be the next big thing."

Up to now, two issues of DevaShard have been published, with a print-run of 50,000 copies, and have been sold in Hong Kong, South-East Asia, Europe and North America.

Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation secretary Alan Wan Siu-lun said DevaShard's experience was rare for a local comic and it showed Hong Kong had global creative talent.

Wan also hoped the DevaShard deal would send a wake-up call to the Hong Kong government on the importance of promoting local artists overseas and in developing the city's creative industries. (dpa)