Newell's 'Prince of Persia' moving ahead

Rex Features

Mike Newell will direct the Disney action adventure film Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in Morocco this summer.

The movie, based on the best-selling video game series, will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The script comes from Jeffrey Nachmanoff and the games' creator Jordan Mechner.

The choice of using North Africa as a shooting location will help Disney and Bruckheimer trim the budget.

Jimmy Abounouom, who is representing the Moroccan shoot for Disney, said: "Producers are always looking for cheap places to shoot and Morocco is one of them."

Charlie Wilson's War and Ridley Scott's Body of Lies recently filmed there.

Prince of Persia is currently in pre-production and will be partly shot at Pinewood Studios in the UK. Disney hopes to begin production in June, pending a quick resolution to the SAG contract dispute.