Three months before Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes even hits theaters on Christmas Day, the Risky Biz Blog is reporting a potential sequel in the works at Warner Bros. with Brad Pitt as the potential nemesis, Moriarty.

Of course, the apparently action-heavy modern take on the famous English detective (as initially conceived by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams in the big holiday tent-pole film for Warner Bros. this season. Much of the cast is expected to return, as well as Ritchie as director, with Kieran and Michele Mulroney set to write the new script.

Odds are that Sherlock Holmes will do very well for itself this winter, but it seems a little preemptive given that Guy Ritchie isn’t exactly box-office material. However, anyone who has seen the trailer for the new version knows that this appears to be a more commercialized, broad and accessible Ritchie. Plus, Robert Downey Jr. should be more than bankable after his coming-out party in 2008 that should have happened in 2007 with his performance in David Fincher’s Zodiac.

Personally, I think Sherlock Holmes looks like a guilty, good-time action-comedy. The slow-motion bare-knuckle fight club scene looks a bit excessive, but it seems like it’s been forever since Jude Law starred in a big-budget studio film and that needs to change.  Thoughts?