Osama bin Laden may be dead thanks to the efforts of the CIA, Navy SEALs and President Obama, but Columbia Pictures and Kathryn Bigelow are keeping his story alive. The Sony Pictures division announced today that it had acquired the rights to produce and distribute Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal’s untitled thriller about the black ops mission to capture or kill bin Laden.
Bigelow and Boal, who will produce the project, have been developing a screenplay about the government’s hunt for the 9/11 mastermind since 2008 and, according to a release from Sony, plan on incorporating the recent events in Pakistan into the story.
Bigelow and Boal both won Oscars for producing 2010 best picture “The Hurt Locker” and directing and screenwriting respectively. This will be both producers first film since “The Hurt Locker” won seven Academy Awards in March 2010.
Production on the untitled Osama bin Laden feature will begin this summer. The studio expects to release the picture just in time for awards season 2012.