harry houdini

Also in this Wednesday edition of The Broadsheet: Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden movie finds a potential distributor… Keanu Reeves talks Ronin 47… the planned Harry Houdini biopic gets a screenwriter… and more ahead.

· With Fast Five speeding (groan!) to box office success around the globe, what better time for Vin Diesel to revive one of his other franchises. No, not xXx; Riddick! As in: a sequel to the 2004 film The Chronicles of Riddick. “[Writer/director David Twohy] just landed in New York with the good news. We can start filming this summer,” Diesel wrote on Facebook. “However, there is a catch: in order for us to make a true R-rated film, I must work for scale upfront. Not unlike the Find Me Guilty experience (which I wouldn’t have changed for the world). Money is always second to art, integrity and spirit, but the real issue is deeper. Can I suspend my life, to momentarily venture to that dark place… called Riddick?” As long as he isn’t busy with the Fast Five Oscar campaign, probably. [Facebook/Vin Diesel via JoBo]

· Sony Pictures will likely acquire the Kathryn Bigelow-directed Osama bin Laden film for U.S. distribution. Production is scheduled to start in the fall, with eyes toward a 2012 release date (cough, May 1 would be pretty appropriate, cough). [Deadline]

· It’s never too early to start hyping potential blockbusters, and that’s just what Keanu Reeves has done while discussing his November 2012 3D epic 47 Ronin. “Japanese kids grow up with this story told to them. They hear it from family and they learn it in school, it’s part of the culture,” Reeves told…