MUMBAI: Columbia Pictures has acquired the US distribution rights to the forthcoming motion picture from Oscar-winners Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, director and screenwriter, respectively, of the Best Picture-winning film The Hurt Locker.
The untitled film focuses on the black ops mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, which culminated in his death earlier this month during a high-stakes raid on his compound in Pakistan. Bigelow and Boal have been developing the project since 2008 and plan to incorporate recent events into the film.
Boal and Bigelow will produce the project, along with Annapurna Picture’s Megan Ellison, and executive producer, Greg Shapiro, with production slated to commence in the late summer of 2011. The film will be released in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal said, “With the death of Osama bin Laden, this film could not be more relevant. Kathryn and Mark have an outstanding perspective on the team that was hunting the most wanted man in the world. Mark is second to none as an investigative journalist, and Kathryn will bring the same kind of compelling authenticity and urgency that distinguished The Hurt Locker and made that film so memorable and special.”
