‘Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun’: Will Smith, David Oyelowo to Produce Netflix Adaptation!!

According to an exclusive report by Variety, Academy Award nominee Will Smith and Selma actor David Oyelowo are having their companies, Westbrook Studios and Yoruba Saxon respectively, join a partnership with Netflix in order to bring Tola Okogwu’s children’s fantasy book Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun to life on the screen.

The British-Nigerian author’s book, which is expected to be published by Simon & Schuster on June 9th of this year, explores the story of a young girl whose magnificent eye-catching locks of dark curly hair have always earned her attention. The girl, Onyeka, feels uncomfortable with the way strangers stare at her because of her hair but, one day, she gains a new appreciation for her curls the moment she discovers she can control them using her mind. Onyeka’s newfound powers lead her to travel to Nigeria to begin attending the Academy of the Sun, a school for kids who, like her, possess supernatural abilities. As she learns more about her origins and her power, Onyeka also encounters a dark force that threatens the magical community she has grown so fond of.

The film adaptation is set to be written by Ola Shokunbi, a screenwriter on the rise who has worked on the upcoming Netflix sci-fi thriller Satellite, whose heist thriller screenplay Indigo featured on the 2021’s Black List and who also has recently made his directional debut with the film A Yellow Heaven. Oyelowo, Smith and Westbrook’s co-president Jone Mone are producing the project with Westbrook Studios’ Heather Washington and Yoruba Saxon’s Jessica Oyelowo as executive producers. Oyelowo along with his wife Jessica co-founded Yoruba Saxon to focus on value-based content across all platforms. Some of its films include Nightingale and Captive. Westbrook Studios was founded in 2019 by Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Miguel Melendez and Ko Yada. The company made headlines earlier this year for having acquired German film and TV firm Telepool. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard is among one of the most recent movies Westbrook has produced. The media company is also behind Peacock’s reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air simply titled Bel-Air.

Oyelowo made his directorial debut in 2020 with the movie The Water Man. He can currently be seen in the HBO Max and BBC One series The Girl Before. Oyelowo will also star in Tom George’s upcoming film See How They Run with Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell as well as the Apple TV series Wool with Rashida Jones and Rebecca Ferguson. Will Smith is working with director Antoine Fuqua to produce and star in the thriller based on real-life events Emancipation.