Japanese manga Wicked City is to be adapted into a live-action English-language feature film with Mark Dippe (Spawn) to direct and co-produce, according to Variety.

The animated science-fiction actioner concerns beasts from a parallel dimension and a secret resistance organization trying to prevent the apocalypse. The film will start shooting early next year with a reported budget between $50-60 million.

The Wicked City original books by Hideyuki Kikuchi, bestsellers in the early 1980s, were adapted as anime "Yoju toshi" by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Mark Dippe and Johnny Hartmann are writing the screenplay.