LeadingFrench animation house Xilam has confirmed it will begin production on a Euros12m ($14.4m) big screen adaptation of hit TV cartoon series The New Adventures Of Lucky Luke.

Thefilm will be titled Tous A L'Ouestand co-produced by Dargaud-Marina and Lucky Comics for a 2007 release.

LuckyLuke has been a big critical andratings hit locally and globally, although the story for Tous A L'Ouest will be loosely based on one of the original comics,La Caravane, by Morris and Goscinny.

Beginningin the New York of 1855, the film follows the adventures of honest cowboy LuckyLuke and loveable career criminals the Daltons on a cross country chase.Olivier Jean-Marie will direct from a script he will co-write withJean-Francois Henry.

Xilam,via sales agent Daniel Marquet, has thus far pre-sold the film in Germany,Benelux, Eastern Europe, Portugal and Greece. A third party sales company willbe named in the future with a French distributor to be announced laterthis month .

Ifit clicks, Tous A L'Ouest couldbe only the beginning of a series of features which Xilam wouldproduce every two to three years.

Xilam was created by Marc duPontavice after he left Gaumont in 1999. The company also produces such hitkids TV fare as Oggy And The Cockroaches.