Variety reports that after directing the Roland Emmerich-produced slave-trade drama Welcome to America, Marco Kreuzpaintner will take on the distinctly Teutonic Krabat, about a boy learning the black arts from an evil sorcerer.

The pic, produced by Munich-based Claussen+Woebke Filmproduktion, is based on Otfried Preussler's 1971 literary adaptation of a 17th-century legend, "The Curse of the Darkling Mill."

The story of Krabat originated in eastern Germany's Sorbian region and has been retold in books and films, including East Germany's 1975 live-action pic "Die Schwarze Muehle" (The Black Mill) and "Krabat," a 1977 animated Czech-West German co-production.