Shankman Rocking Ages

“Hairpsray” helmer Adam Shankman is bringing Broadway hit “Rock of Ages” to the big screen.

The film will begin production by next summer, and will be released by Warner Bros. in 2011, says Variety.

The musical’s creator, Chris D’Arienzo, wrote the script.

“I had the best time of my life making `Hairspray’ and badly wanted another musical, and when I watched `Rock of Ages,’ I was struck by the fact that not only had much of the audience seen it more than once, every guy in the audience knew the words to the songs,” Shankman said. “I thought, `this is `Mamma Mia!’ for dudes. What an extraordinary opportunity to open the genre to an audience that otherwise wouldn’t go see a musical.”

The musical tells the story of a couple that meets at the Sunset Strip club Rock of Ages, falls in love and tries to stay together amid the rough and tumble rock lifestyle. The cast finds reasons to belt out 80s rock anthems made popular by Journey, Twisted Sister, Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar and other MTV generation staples.

Landing a big director is the latest in a series of unlikely developments for a show that began modestly five years ago in a Hollywood rock club, where the sets had to be struck quickly to make way for rave parties. After a short-lived Vegas stint that almost killed it, “Rock of Ages” caught on off-Broadway, and three movie studios battled for the movie rights.