Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden film gets green light

Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow will direct a film about the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after Colombia Pictures won the rights to distribute the movie.

Bigelow and journalist-turned screenwriter Mark Boal, who won Oscars for Iraq bomb squad movie The Hurt Locker in 2010, had already been working on a project about the al-Qaeda chief's capture or killing, before his death on May 2, The Telegraph reports.

Columbia's parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed the project, saying: "Bigelow and Boal have been developing the project since 2008 and plan to incorporate recent events into the film."

The film will focus on "the black ops mission to capture or kill" Laden, it said in a statement.