Paramount Pictures To Produce an Action Fantasy Film Adaptation of CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE
After a heated bidding war with several Hollywood studios, Paramount Pictures landed the rights to Tomi Adeyemi’s YA novel series Children of Blood and Bone. The plan is to adapt it as an action fantasy feature film.
The studio is putting the project on the fast track to production and Adeyemi is set to write the script and also executive produce. For those of you not familiar with the story, here’s the description from the book:
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie's Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.
Co-President of Paramount Pictures Motion Group Daria Cercek said in a statement, “Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone has not only become a phenomenon in the YA world, it has transformed every expectation of what world-building fantasy can be. It’s with enormous pride that our studio — along with Tomi and our partners Wyck, Marty and Karen — set out to bring this franchise to life on the big screen. With its thought-provoking and timely themes, we know that this story will resonate with a global audience.”
Adeyemi added, “Paramount’s passion and enthusiasm to bring this story to life has been incredible. We are all so excited for this new chapter and are already hard at work.”
Paramount Pictures doesn’t have many big franchises to play with, so they fought hard for this. They were up against Universal, Amazon and Netflix. According to Deadline, “Insiders went on to add that Paramount’s final offer blew away the others as it included several incentives including a seven-figure screenwriting guarantee as well creative approvals for Adeyemi. Another major factor was a guaranteed theatrical release, which is a huge card to play as studios compete with streamers willing to pay much more for packages that hit the market and that leverage of a global release helps when those guarantees are becoming more scarce.”
Well, I hope Paramount Pictures takes this and actually does the story justice as they adapt it for the big screen. If they pull it off, they will probably have a new successful film franchise.