Nigerian British-American actor and producer, David Oyelowo has partnered with fellow Hollywood actor, Will Smith to produce the film adaptation of Nigerian novel, “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun.”
The movie is set to be produced in partnership with online streaming platform, Netflix using their production companies, Westbrook Studios and Yoruba Saxon respectively.
The novel which was written by British-Nigerian author, journalist and hair care educator, Tola Okogwu is to be written for adaptation by Ola Shokunbi Okogwu and made available for streaming exclusively by Netflix.
The soon-to-be-published book is set to join the ranks of other Nigerian novels that have been adapted on the big screen, some of which includes, Half of a Yellow Sun, written by Chimamanda Adichie, published in 2007 and adapted as a movie in 2013.
This movie will form the first partnership between the two producers as they have yet to work together on any movie. However, the two actors have developed their respective production companies alongside their wives.
David founded his production company, Yoruba Saxon with his wife Jessica Oyelowo in 2014 and have recorded notable successes, boasting of a first-look deal with Walt Disney Pictures for feature-length films, and an overall deal with Paramount for original scripted and unscripted series.
Yoruba Saxon produced “The water man” in 2020, which was directed by David Oyelowo in what would count as his directorial debut. The movie is currently being distributed by RLJE films domestically and is streaming on Netflix internationally.
On the other hand, Will Smith launched Westbrook Studios in 2019, which he co-founded with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Miguel Melendez and Ko Yada.
About the Novel
The novel “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun” tells the story of a teenager who discovers she has powers and journeys to Nigeria to find out more about her heritage, where she finds out there is a threat to her newfound magical community.
According to American publishing company Simon and Schuster, the soon to be published novel is a Black Panther meets Percy Jackson in this action-packed and empowering middle-grade superhero series about a British-Nigerian girl who learns that her Afro hair has psychokinetic powers.
