"It's official: Marvel, Rovio team up for Angry Birds film"

Rovio are teaming up with Marvel to turn Angry Birds into a film. 

GAME maker Rovio has confirmed that a film of the iPhone hit Angry Birds is in development, as it announced that 400 million people had downloaded the game.

Rovio announced a new bird would be launched in-game for Halloween and even offered what might be a sneak peek of the creature.

Presenting at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, the Finnish company also said Angry Birds was being played for 300 million minutes a day worldwide.

The film, to be produced in conjunction with Marvel, will explore the "emotional connection" gamers have with Angry Birds, a Marvel executive told Hollywood trade magazine Variety this year.

Rovio had made 50 failed games before its iPhone hit Angry Birds, but has now sold 350 million copies of the US99c (94c) game.

Rovio also sells a million toys and as many T-shirts off the back of the game every month.

So far, Rovio has yet to spend a single cent on marketing, reports the blog TechCrunch.

Rovio said it would try to turn Angry Birds' worldwide popularity into an entertainment franchise that is as all-conquering as Mickey Mouse or Super Mario.

"The brand and the fans are at the heart of everything we do," said Andrew Stalbow, a senior executive at Rovio, according to London's The Times.

"Everybody plays it. It's the one game that my five-year-old son plays with his grandfather.

"We want to take the game and make it into a new digital media entertainment franchise."

Rovio, which is aiming to have one billion players, also plans to release a themed cookbook by the end of the year.