Max Landis has come aboard to rewrite the script for Sony's Houdini, which has been in development since 2011.

The project initially had Francis Lawrence attached to direct from a script written by Scott Frank back in 2011, but the project fell apart when the director left to make The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Our report from May 2011 revealed that this biopic would be a more conventional telling of magician Harry Houdini's story, centering on his attempts to discredit a beautiful spiritualist, although he begin to believe in her. This new take on the story will have an H.P. Lovecraft influence.

Jimmy Miller (Bad Teacher, The Other Guys) is producing, although no production schedule was given. Summit Entertainment is also working on their own biopic entitled The Secret Life of Houdini, which director Dean Parisot is circling. Noah Baumbach wrote the screenplay adaptation, based on the book of the same name by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, which alleges that the illusionist was also working as a spy for the British government.

Max Landis is best known for writing the 2012 found footage hit Chronicle. He also wrote the script for 20th Century Fox's Frankenstein, which stars Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy.