Mumbai, Aug 13 (IANS): Indian film production company Vistaar Entertainment has announced plans to invest in a trilogy of the cinematic adaptation of Swiss-born author Johanna Spyri’s classic “Heidi".

To be produced along with Simon Wright of Big Tree Productions and former president of Working Title (Television) and Goldfinch Entertainment's Kirsty Bell as the executive producer, the first of the trilogy, written by producer-writer Paul Watson, will commence production this year. It is expected to hit screens mid-2016.

"We are very excited about working on bringing to life one of the children’s best classics along with Simon and Paul. We believe that this will be a film that will allow audiences to relive this classic and this adaptation will allow the new generation of children to fall in love with the character all over,” Sheetal Vinod Talwar, managing director, Vistaar Entertainment, said in statement.

The first film from the trilogy has been tentatively titled “Heidi - Queen Of The Mountains”. and will be shot primarily in the European alpine regions, revealed Simon Wright, producer and founder, Big Tree Productions.

The company has also been involved in production of the Martin Freeman starrer “The Eichmann Show”, Sci-fi thriller “Genesis”, Mel Raido-starrer “The Myth of Hopelessness” and Onir’s Indian adaptation of "Hamlet", “Veda".