Hardhitting director John Singleton is to take to the high seas. Singleton, best known for his controversial films, Boyz N The Hood and Higher Learning, is to take the helm in a new version of Sinbad.

The swashbuckling fantasy may seem an unlikely venture for Singleton, who recently directed Shaft, but according to Variety he has "long wanted" to make a "popcorn event movie."

"We look at Sinbad as an eighth century Raiders of the Lost Ark on steroids and John is charged up to do a big visual effects movie," said Tedi Sarafian, who will script the film. "After watching John's enthusiasm for the film and his strong sense of the characters of Sinbad, I feel that he's a lot like where the Wachowski brothers were when they were known for the movie Bound and made The Matrix."

The film will be full of special effects, and will apparently be a mixture of The Mummy and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is hoped that it will be released in 2003 or 2004.