MLK Movie Announcement

Forty years post the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks are teaming up to create a movie on the life of the civil rights leader, Variety.com reported on Tuesday.

The rights to Dr. King's life had to be acquired from his estate because his speeches, books, and other work were copyrighted while he was alive, according to MTV. The King estate has agreed to the project.

Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones also have been mentioned to be producers of the project in a news release. The studio also says the film would be the first theatrical motion picture authorized by the estate using King's intellectual property as the basis for the story, the Associated Press reported.

The cast and writers of the movie have yet to be announced.