Ice Cube will play the Scrooge figure in a contemporary retelling of Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, reports Deadline.

The rapper-turned-actor, whose early work in pioneering LA rap outfit NWA was recently immortalised in the blockbuster hip-hop biopic Straight Outta Compton, will portray a rich real-estate mogul who receives a festive visit from a trio of moralistic spirits representing Christmases past, present and future. The film, which is called Humbug and has been set up at studio Universal following a bidding war for Todd R Jones and Earl Richey Jones’s screenplay, will see Cube reunite with his director on Barbershop and Ride Along, Tim Story.

A Christmas Carol has been adapted for the big screen countless times, with the most recent prominent version being Disney’s 2009 motion-captured animation starring Jim Carrey as the miserly curmudgeon. The oldest surviving film version is 1901’s Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost, but the story has been filmed at least once a decade in the 114 years since, bar the 1960s.

Further famous takes include the 1951 film Scrooge (A Christmas Carol in the US), starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge, and the 1970 musical Scrooge starring Albert Finney as the miser and Alec Guinness as Marley’s Ghost. Contemporary, offbeat retellings include 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine, and the 1988 Bill Murray vehicle Scrooged.

Deadline suggests the success of Straight Outta Compton, which Cube produced alongside former bandmate Dr Dre, has only reinforced the musician’s standing in Hollywood. He is reportedly due a payday of at least $10m if Humbug makes it to the production stage.