Will the Summit sale snuff The Secret Life of Houdini?

Deadline Hollywood reports that Summit Entertainment is about to be acquired by Lionsgate for $700 million. What does this have to do with Houdini, you ask?

Well, Summit was the studio that in March 2009 announced with great fanfare that they would make a film based on the book The Secret Life of Houdini featuring the adventures of Houdini as a spy. The studio promised an action thriller that would be "part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes", and hoped to launch a new franchise.

Jeff Nathanson signed abord to write and direct Secret Life in May 2009, but was replaced in 2011 by Noah Oppenheim. Last we heard Oppenheim was working away, but that the film might not see production until 2014.

But now with Summit going away, what will happen to the project? Will Lionsgate continue developing the idea, or have we just witnessed the last act of The Secret Life of Houdini?