Director Steven Spielberg’s company, Amblin Entertainment, is partnering with A24 to adapt James McBride’s acclaimed 2023 novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Deadline reports that plans for the project are “still in very early development.” While Spielberg is best known for directing cult classics like Jaws or more recent hits like Ready Player One, the three-time Academy Award winner is said to be serving as producer for this project. A24 has yet to provide any comment regarding the project.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store takes place within the rundown Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1972. Following a community where immigrant Jews and African Americans live side-by-side, the novel unveils the long-held secrets that lie within the area, including the discovery of a mysterious skeleton at the bottom of a well. As told from the lives of its residents, the novel is a commentary on those living on the margins of white, Christian America, and serves as a testament to survival in difficult times. Listed as one of President Obama’s favorite books of 2023, the novel has also been named a “Must Read for the Summer” by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Renowned for his bestselling memoir The Color of Water, which became popular as a required reading in schools, this isn’t the first time McBride’s work has been adapted for the screen. His debut novel from 2008, Miracle at St. Anna, was adapted by Oscar-winning writer and director Spike Lee, with McBride himself as the film’s writer. Additionally, McBride’s 2013 novel, The Good Lord Bird, was adapted into a Showtime limited series in 2020, starring Ethan Hawke.
Steven Spielberg Is Working on New UFO Movie with ‘Jurassic Park’ Writer David Koepp
Prior to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, Spielberg served as executive producer for two recent projects. In 2023, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment was involved in Netflix’s nature docuseries, Life on Our Planet. Additionally, with his company, Spielberg served as an executive producer of Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, starring Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Barry Keoghan. Spielberg is also set to reunite with Jurassic Park writer David Koepp for a new UFO movie, marking his return to the sci-fi/adventure genre. The release date for said project has yet to be announced.
Stay tuned to Collider for further updates and future developments. In the meantime, audiences can stream all episodes of Masters of the Air on Apple TV+.
via Collider