Kenneth Branagh is to direct an updated version of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.

With an adapted libretto by Stephen Fry, in English rather than the original German, the movie's setting will be changed to the eve of World War I. It will centre upon a young soldier who, whilst waiting to be sent into battle, finds himself in a twilight world in which he must rescue the daughter of the Queen of the Night from the dark lord Sarastro.

Joseph Kaiser, Amy Carson and Ben Davis will be among the cast, with the backing of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by James Conlon.