The Spanish favorite comic strip characters, Mortadelo and Filemon, become a feature-length 3D animated Spanish film, and Warner Bros. acquires Spanish rights.

Hollywood Reporter reports that after box office successes with 2 previous, live-action films with the same characters, production houses Zeta Cinema and Peliculas Pendelton have proceeded to develop a a 10-million euro 3D animated film.

Mortadelo and Filemon is one of the most popular Spanish comic strip series by Francisco Ibãnez, with 190 books now published in more than a dozen countries (under different nicknames) over a period of 50 years.

The film is now in pre-production. The Oscar-nominated Javier Fesser (who also helmed the successful live-action version of Mortadelo & Filemon) directs the 3D film.

Fesser also writes the script, along with Cristobal Ruiz and Claro Garcia.