MUMBAI: Legendary Pictures has acquired the rights to develop and produce a new feature based on Godzilla, the iconic Toho Co. character.

Through its deal with Legendary Films, the film will be co-produced, co-financed and distributed by Warner Bros. while Toho will distribute the film in Japan.

The last major Godzilla outing from Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin was set in New York grossed $376 million worldwide in 1998. The following year Toho produced Godzilla 2000 in which the big beast took on an evil UFO.

The new film is aiming for a 2012 release.

Warner Bros. and Legendary have earlier partnered on global properties such as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Superman Returns and The Hangover that grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.