Writers chosen for 'Transformers' movie

LOS ANGELES, March 15 (UPI) -- Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will write the live-action movie based on the popular Transformer toys, The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday.

Kurtzman and Orci have previously collaborated as writer-executive producers on the TV series "Alias," and have written the screenplay for the upcoming "Mission: Impossible III."

Steven Spielberg is executive producing "The Transformers" for DreamWorks and Paramount. The movie is based on Hasbro's popular line of children's toys that featured rival groups of robots -- one that embraced tolerance and another that believed in survival of the fittest and was dedicated to exterminating biological life.