The Office star Ricky Gervais is to turn his children's book, Flanimals, into a £50 million movie.

The successful book has sold more than 200,000 copies, and Gervais has now signed to produce a film adaptation, as well as voicing one of the Flanimals.

A source close to Ricky told The Sun, "He’s delighted. He’ll work on storyboards for the film and voice one of the characters. They are also hoping to sign up a lot of other big names."

Speaking of the inspiration behind his bizarre creations, Gervais said, "I was making up stupid animals for my six-year-old nephew. He grew out of them and I carried on."

The book includes characters such as Munge Fuddler and Frappled Humpdumbler.

Gervais hopes to match the success of Monsters Inc. with the new film.