King Kong director Peter Jackson is reaching back into the movie vaults again to remake the World War II film The Dam Busters.

Peter Jackson accepts the Oscar after the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won for best motion picture. Jackson has said he will produce a remake of the British war movie The Dam Busters. (AP photo)
New Zealander Jackson confirmed Friday he will produce a $50 million US remake of the 1954 British film, with King Kong animator Christian Rivers set to direct.

The original film, based on the non-fiction book by Paul Brickhill, told the story of how Britain developed bouncing bombs to destroy German dams in World War II.

But unlike the original, Jackson's remake will incorporate declassified information by the British military since the original.

"It has since been declassified by the British government, making the dynamics of the story and the people involved even more intriguing," said Jackson, who won best director for the third film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King.

"So much of it was still secret," Jackson told the film industry trade paper Screen Daily. "They weren't even allowed to show the bomb itself and had to create a fictionalized bomb."

The sole surviving pilot of the RAF's top-secret bombing mission that destroyed the Ruhr dams said Jackson's access to previously unavailable information means he'll need to get the facts right.

Retired New Zealand Squadron Leader Les Munro, 87, says casting the stars will also be a difficult task.

"I have got mixed feelings," said Munro, the only living pilot left from Operation Chastise, which wrecked the dams in 1943. "One of the biggest challenges to Peter Jackson will be getting someone to play the lead roles — [raid leader Wing Cmdr.] Guy Gibson and [bomb inventor] Barnes Wallis."

In the original, Michael Redgrave played Wallis and Richard Todd played Gibson, the pilot who won the Victoria Cross for leading the raid. It was nominated for an Oscar for best special effects.

Jackson had originally inquired about remaking the film while he was securing rights for The Lord of the Rings in the 1990s, but was told at the time Icon pictures had the rights and Mel Gibson was going to direct.

"Obviously that didn't happen," said Jackson.

The film will be the second notable remake for Jackson, who in 2005 remade the 1933 classic King Kong. His next project as a director is an adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones.

With files from the Associated Press

And because it'd be really sentimental if he made The Hobbit the last film he'll be directing.