Berlin-based rights group Berlin-based has taken all middle and Eastern European rights, including Russia and the CIS, to Til Schweiger's new action drama The Guardians (Schutzengel), The Hollywood Reporter said.

Schweiger is directing, producing and starring in Guardians, playing an ex-special forces soldier tasked with protecting a young girl who witnessed a killing. Schweiger's Barefoot shingle is producing together with Warner Bros. Germany.

Barefoot plans to begin shooting on an English-language remake of the film, which Schweiger will direct but not star in, early next year. Warner is believed to also be circling the remake.

Warner Germany will bow the original Guardians, which is still in production, on October 27 in Germany. EEAP hopes to release the film in Russia early next year. Alexander van Dülmen's rights group has had major box office returns in Russia with Schweiger's romantic comedy Two-Eared Chick, which, in 2010, became the most successful German film ever released in the territory.