Rihanna will make her film debut alongside Alexander Skarsgard and Taylor Kitsch in director Peter Berg’s feature-length adaptation of the classic Hasbro game Battleship.  The basic premise centers on a battle over land, sea, and sky against a "superior" alien force.  According to Variety, Kitsch will play a Naval officer with Skarsgard cast as his older brother; no word yet on what role Rihanna has signed on for.  For more info on the movie, hit the jump.

Berg has already confirmed that, unlike several other summer blockbusters set to come out in 2012, Battleship will not be in 3D.  The film will instead focus on classic naval warfare and --- as Hasbro CEO and producer Brian Goldner told MTV a while back --- telling a "unique story."  Of course, this doesn’t explicitly rule out a conversion to 3D in post-production.

Berg elaborated on the narrative choices of the film:

The idea of finding a credible context for that eluded me. The idea of a film where America goes to war against China, or a movie where America goes to war against England or Australia or Japan, one of the countries that has a credible navy, felt like it would borderline on some kind of jingoistic American military exercise I couldn’t get my head around. I like the idea of something bigger, larger than life and the challenge it presented.

Berg, Goldner, Sarah Aubrey, Bennett Schneir, and Scott Stuber are credited as producers on Battleship.  Shooting is set to start soon on the film, which is slated for a May 18th, 2012 release.