MUMBAI: Film subjects of the happenings in the Middle East never fail to deliver intense ideas for Hollywood blockbuster productions specially films based on terrorism plots or regional wars. 

They have all topped international box offices for their exposure to real-life drama in recent years. Like for instance, Green Zone in 2010, an American war thriller which documented life in Baghdad‘s international zone for US troops or for that matter 9/11 in 2002 that detailed the 11 September attacks in New York City by Al Qaeda terrorists.

But this time, a new Hollywood action thriller Shadow Runner, based on the assassination of a leading Hamas leader in Dubai that took place last year, is set to take centre stage. 

Reports from the US suggest that the new film by Sony Pictures has been inspired by the murder of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a Hamas kingpin who was killed by a hit squad while staying at a hotel in Dubai in January last year. 

The gang had used fake passports to gain access to the emirate and was caught on closed circuit television. The footage was broadcast internationally as part of an investigation by Dubai police.

Iranian scriptwriter Hossein Amini is developing the plot for the action thriller. The film will star up-and-coming Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, who was last seen in the superhero film Thor.

"We think the story is a terrific action thriller for Chris Hemsworth and we know this project is in great hands,” Hannah Minghella, one of the producers behind the project, has been quoted to have said. 

Shadow Runner is scheduled for release in 2014.