Ben Stiller takes over from Russell Brand in 'Rentaghost' film

Ben Stiller has signed on to star in Rentaghost.

Based on the British children's comedy series, Rentaghost is about a temp agency that rents out ghosts to the public.

Fox has now bought the studio rights to the comedy after Russell Brand was originally linked to the project when it was in development at Warner Bros, reports Deadline.

Brand is no longer connected to the project.

Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant have signed on to write the script, which will reunite the two writers with Stiller.

Lennon and Garant wrote the screenplay to 2006's Night at the Museum, which starred Stiller as the night security guard at the Museum of Natural History.

Stiller, who recently hosted Saturday Night Live, is due to receive BAFTA's Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy at the 2011 Britannia Awards on November 30.

Meanwhile, the comedic actor can be next seen in Brett Ratner's Tower Heist with Eddie Murphy, which opens in the US and UK on November 4.

Watch the trailer for Tower Heist below: