Angry Birds creator hawking movie rights

The company behind Angry Birds hopes to sell the rights to produce TV shows, movies, toys and comics based on the hit iPhone game.

That's according to Variety, which puts sales at AB of more than 6.5 million. And that's just the paid-for iPhone version - the free trial has been downloaded 11 million times, while sales of the iPad game stand at 200,000.

But rather than build on this success by producing new games, developer Rovio is looking to expand the franchise via other media.

"It doesn't make sense [to produce a slate of different games] when you have a hit of any caliber," said bossman Mikael Hed. "When you create brand equity, to do that again would be a difficult task rather than nurture and build around what you have."

So Rovio has been visiting studios and investors in recent weeks. The idea is to produce Angry Birds cartoons which will be viewed in cinemas and on TV screens. Hed is reckoning on a claymation look to the cartoons, as made famous by Aardman Animation.

Of course, that sort of thing takes a while to produce. "The challenge is to make sure the brand is relevant when the movie comes out," said Hed.

So in the meantime, Rovio is working on sequels and other versions of Angry Birds. There are also plans to bring the game to DS, PSP and PS3, as previously announced.