Angry Birds RIO to tie in with 20th Century Fox film

Angry Birds' creators Rovio have announced that a new edition of the game will be a tie in with a Hollywood animated film.

Angry Birds RIO , due for release in March, will feature characters from the movie RIO, made by the same people as Ice Age.

The new game will have 45 levels.

In it the birds travel to Brazil to try and rescue two new friends, Blu and Jewel, a pair of tropical birds who are the main stars of the film.

Finnish developers Rovio said Angry Birds RIO would "pair the physics-based gameplay of the original with unique twists based on the highly-anticipated film."

TV show

The new game would "introduce the millions of fans of Angry Birds to the exciting world of RIO," a Fox spokesman said.

Angry Birds was downloaded over 50 million times in 2010 on a variety of smartphones, and is also set for a release on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

The cartoon style game lets players control a variety of bad-tempered birds, all with different skills, who try to rescue their eggs from evil pigs.

Using a slingshot the birds are catapulted at different structures the pigs are hiding in.

The hit game is also rumoured to be on the way to becoming a TV show, a move which would see the birds appearing on still more screens in 2011.

Angry Birds RIO is released in March 2011, with the RIO movie released on 15 April.