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After a bidding war between major industry players, Paramount Pictures has secured the rights to the widely popular young adult book series Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.
The author of the series is now gearing up to adapt, write scripts and executively produce the big-screen debut of the YA trilogy’s first installment, Children of Blood and Bone.
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan, originally published the book in 2018.
Paramount Pictures is doing what it can to fast-track Children of Blood and Bone‘s Hollywood debut. The movie’s producers include Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill Entertainment and Karen Rosenfelt of Sunswept Entertainment, according to Deadline.
Sources shared that the series’ rights were warred over by studios including Universal, Amazon and Netflix, after Lucasfilm — who initially secured the rights — “lapsed” on developing the franchise.
Paramount pulled out all the stops to win over Adeyemi, outdoing their competitors by offering the author a seven-figure screenwriting guarantee, creative approvals and guaranteed theatrical release, according to insiders close to the deal.
Co-President of Paramount Pictures Motion Group Daria Cercek seems optimistic about the franchise’s ongoing and potential success.
“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,” Cercek said in a statement. “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.”
In addition to Adeyemi being a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author, both Children of Blood and Bone and its sequel, 2019’s Children of Virtue and Vengence, debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list.
The Nigerian-American, Los Angeles-based author is also named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2020.
“Paramount’s passion and enthusiasm to bring this story to life has been incredible,” Adeyemi said of the recently announced partnership. “We are all so excited for this new chapter and are already hard at work.”
The third and final book of the Children of Blood and Bone series, currently unnamed, is expected to drop sometime in 2023. Read more about the story told within the first book by checking out the link below.
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