President Abraham Lincoln was a man with many great attributes: proficient public speaking, upstanding moral values, tremendous leadership qualities and, apparently, kick-ass vampire hunting skills.

The monster-hunting side of Lincoln's life is getting the feature film treatment courtesy of 20th Century Fox, who apparently won a fierce bidding war against rival studios to obtain the rights to Seth Grahame-Smith's novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The film is described by Deadline as a "3D re-imagining of Lincoln's life that depicts the 16th president as an axe-throwing, highly accomplished killer of vampires, an obsession of his since those bloodsuckers supposedly took the life of his mother. Taking revenge, Lincoln wreaks havoc on the vampires and their slave-owning protectors."

Producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov used their own money to option the book earlier this year, with the project ultimately settling at Fox. Production is expected to begin in March, with Bekmambetov stepping behind the lens as director for the first time since Wanted in 2008.