Warner Bros. and Overbrook Entertainment have acquired the rights to remake "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis," the comedy that broke box office records in France earlier this year. Will Smith and James Lassiter will produce with Ken Stovitz. Pathe Intl. controlled rights to the film.

The original is a hicks-in-the-sticks tale about a post office manager who has a nice outpost in the South of France but ends up banished to a rainy town in northern France, where he finds the local patois unintelligible.

The Dany Boon-directed film grossed more than $190 million in France alone.

Variety says the film will be developed by WB under the title Welcome to the Sticks.