John Ridley and Jason Blum are partnering on a movie adaptation of Ridley’s recent comic book series “The American Way: Those Above and Those Below.”

Ridley is also attached to direct the project, based on his six-issue monthly miniseries published in 2017 by DC Entertainment’s Vertigo label. Ridley wrote the story with illustrator George Jeanty in what was a sequel to their 2007 graphic novel “The American Way,” in which a team of 1960s superheroes were created and called the Civil Defense Corps. The story focuses on Jason Fisher’s the New American, a black man given super strength but a limited pain threshold while the rest of the corps is torn apart by racism and murder.

Ridley won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for “12 Years a Slave.” His other film credits include “Ben-Hur,” “Undercover Brother,” “U Turn,” “Three Kings,” “Red Tails,” and the Jimi Hendrix biopic “Jimi: All Is by My Side,” which he also directed.

Ridley’s television work includes the ABC News documentary “Let It Fall” about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, also in theaters later this month; and ABC’s “American Crime,” on which he serves as showrunner and creator.

Universal-based Blum specializes in producing low-cost genre films through his Blumhouse Productions including “Get Out,” “Split,” and “Truth or Dare” along with the Insidious, Purge, and Ouija franchises.

The news was first reported by Deadline.

via Variety