Periodically studios pack around an idea and race each other to the box office. In the late '80s, it was an 18th century French novel, adapted in 1988 as Dangerous Liaisons, then again in 1989 as Valmont. In 1998, it was an asteroid about to hit the planet, in Armageddon and Deep Impact. By the mid-2000s, the flavor of the month was socialite author Truman Capote, with 2005's Capote followed up by Infamous in 2006. And as Christine wrote last week, there are not two but three biopics of Salvador Dali in the works.

But up first? Arthur Conan Doyle's pipe-smoking detective hits the screen twice in the next couple of years, with very different actors stepping into Holmes's tweed overcoat: Robert Downey Jr. and Sacha Baron Cohen.

The Robert Downey Jr. vehicle gives the classic story the rough-and-tumble action treatment, with Guy Ritchie directing and a focus on a different side of Holmes, as much martial arts and bare-knuckle boxing as deduction. (Downey was recently knocked out on the set by a stuntman when a fight scene got sloppy.) Jude Law costars as Dr. Watson, and I'd be surprised if Sherlock's cocaine problem doesn't feature.

The Baron Cohen film is, of course, a comedy, and with Will Ferrell as Watson, Etan Cohen from Tropic Thunder writing the script, and Judd Apatow co-producing, I'm pretty sure I can tell which of the two's most likely to have a "no what, Sherlock?" moment. The last time Cohen and Farrell shared the screen was as dueling NASCAR drivers in Talladega Nights (yet another Apatow co-production), but don't hold that against them.

Like sequels and spinoffs, this kind of herd mentality usually strikes me as one of the problems with Hollywood, which seems less willing to take on the risk of a new idea when there are perfectly good used ones lying around. (The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, anyone?)

But this is one of those unusual cases where both could work. Downey is versatile, and pulled off the English accent just fine in Chaplin; he has no problem playing tortured (even in court!) and in Iron Man showed he had the brawn to play the action hero. Ritchie's a bit uneven (um ... Swept Away?), but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Baron Cohen is versatile too, and even though his ad-libbed work stands out, he's funny working from a script. And there's the key: Cohen and Ferrell are hilarious guys, but give them a terrible script and nothing can save it. But give them something like Tropic Thunder, and you can just get out of the way and watch the magic.

So, who knows? Maybe this time there really will be room for two. And don't be surprised to see them sharing a stage at the MTV Movie Awards one day soon, wearing those tweed deerstalker hats.

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