It has been announced that Dreamworks has acquired a fictional script involving Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle solving murders. The script has been written by J. Michael Straczynski, responsible for story and script work on Thor, Underworld, and a half dozen other upcoming movies in various stages of production.
"The thriller is based on the friendship between magician Harry Houdini and mystery author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They were actually friends, but the script is a fictional account of how they teamed up with a psychic to solve bizarre murders in 1920s New York."
It's interesting that so many writers and Hollywood studios have started spinning new tales out of popular historical figures and novels. Off the top of my head, there is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, The Raven (Fictional Edgar Allan Poe movie), a period detective TV show titled Poe, and a new spin on Dracula called Harker. I love period pieces and all of these sound interesting enough, but I wonder how many of them will actually be successful. Time will tell...