Netflix has announced its partnership with Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon to produce a film adaption of “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun.”
“Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun,” based on the book by British-Nigerian author and journalist Tlá Okogwu, tells the story of a teenager who discovers she has magical abilities and travels to Nigeria to learn more about her origins, where she finds a threat to her newfound magical community.
The book is described as “Black Panther” meets “X-Men” or “Percy Jackson,” will be published by Simon & Schuster in the United States and the United Kingdom this June. Okogwu is represented by CAA and RCW Literary Agency’s Claire Wilson.
Ola Shokunbi is poised to write the film adaptation after helping to bring “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun” to Netflix.
Smith and Jon Mone, Westbrook Studios’ co-president of film, and Oyelowo on Yoruba Saxon’s behalf are producing the project. Heather Washington of Westbrook Studios and Jessica Oyelowo of Yoruba Saxon are executive producers.
Westbrook Studios is a Westbrook Inc. subsidiary founded by Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Miguel Melendez, and Ko Yada in 2019. With a mission to “empower artists to tell stories that link the world,” Westbrook recently produced the Oscar-nominated family drama “King Richard,” based on the life of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams’ father, Richard Williams. The studio also produced Peacock’s “Bel-Air,” the widely anticipated dramatic resurrection of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which premiered after the Super Bowl.
Similarly, Oyelowo launched Yoruba Saxon with his wife Jessica with the aim of “shifting the culture and colour outside the lines” by generating content for a global audience, with a focus on providing values-based content. The company has a first-look deal with Walt Disney Pictures for feature-length films and an overall deal with Paramount for original scripted and unscripted series.
