Paul Potts has performed around the world

The project will be produced by Simon Cowell, who steered the mobile phone salesman to fame after he won the first series of Britain's Got Talent.

Industry paper Variety reports that film company Paramount agreed to the project after watching YouTube footage of Potts performing.

His debut album One More Chance has sold some three million copies.

'Another Billy Elliot'

Cowell, who is also a judge on The X Factor and American Idol, said that the Paul Potts story was impossible for the film company to ignore.

"Most of these calls result in absolutely nothing, but this company got that it's another Billy Elliot, a story anyone in the world can understand," he told Variety.

"I'll never forget how much the room changed when he began singing," said Cowell of Potts' first audition for the show in Cardiff.

Potts' rendition of Nessun Dorma captured the show's viewers

"Despite his success off the back of the show, the only difference I see in him is that he got his teeth fixed," he added.

Potts, who endeared himself to the judges with his humility, has gone on to perform around the world, including the US.

He struck a deal to have his album released in 15 countries.

The Bristol-born singer had said the experience "changed his life" after years of feeling "so small and significant".