Mega-producer Joel Silver will develop a live-action movie based on Cartoon Network's hit Ben 10 animated franchise, Variety reports. Warner Bros. will likely distribute the feature.

The property, created by comics veterans Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle, centers on a boy who finds an extraterrestrial watch-like device that allows him to transform into a variety aliens, each with its own special ability. Ben 10 aired on Cartoon Network from December 2005 to 2008 before it was succeeded by Ben 10: Alien Force, which gave way in April 2010 to Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

The animated franchise has previously been adapted as live-action television movies in 2007 with Ben 10: Race Against Time and its 2009 sequel Ben 10: Alien Swarm. Dark Castle Entertainment's Steve Richards, who will produce the adaptation with Andrew Rona and Silver, said the big-screen take on Ben 10 will be different, and larger, than the live-action versions that came before it.

"We really see this as a large, big-budgeted tentpole movie," he tells the trade paper.

Silver and Dark Castle Entertainment are on the hunt for writers.