Distributor nWave Pictures has acquired the worldwide giant screen distribution rights to a new film, Galapagos 3D written and narrated by naturalist and veteran filmmaker David Attenborough.

The film from London-based Colossus Productions will be an exploration of the Galapagos islands, home to around 9,000 species, including the marine iguana that spits sea salt from its nose.

Around 80 per cent of the land-dwelling population is indigenous to these volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean 600m (966km) from the coast of South America and has developed in isolation from human contact oven millions of year.

Other species include the giant half-ton long necked tortoises, blue-footed booby birds and flightless cormorants.

Galapagos 3D (its working title) will be released to Imax theatres and Digital Giant Screen cinemas in February 2014 in 38-minute and 20-minute versions, 3D and 2D versions.

The film will premiere at the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) 2013 Conference at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa on 15 September 2013.

Eric Dillens, chairman of nWave Studios said: "After successfully launching Penguins 3D earlier this year at major US institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and Boston's New England Aquarium, we are excited to again work with Attenborough and Geffen on this remarkable new film that will wow kids and families alike."

"Galapagos is full of dramas, and it is also full of very, very charismatic animals which, because they’re uniquely unafraid of humans, you can get up close to and film: it’s a natural for 3D," said David Attenborough.

"It’s one of the wonders of the world, and the animals are absolutely riveting in 3D."