Barack and Michelle Obamas’ Production Company has announced six new projects in development for Netflix Inc, including a love story with a supernatural twist and a young adult thriller.
The former President and first lady’s Higher Ground Productions is adapting British-Pakistani author, Mohsin Hamid’s critically adored 2017 novel, ‘Exit West’ into a movie, which will star Mr. Ahmed Riz, according to a statement from Netflix.
The book tells the story of a young couple who finds magical doors to transport them to other places and lands in the middle of a global refugee crisis. The movie is one of several projects that Netflix said the Obamas, were developing for the streaming service.
In addition to ‘Exit West’, the Obamas are also working on a science fiction movie titled ‘Satellite’ with T Street, a production company run by ‘Star Wars’ director, Rian Johnson, and producer, Ram Bergman. Another one is ‘Tenzing’, the story of the Nepalese-Indian man, who first reached the summit of Mount Everest, with Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand. ‘The Young Wife’ is a feature film that follows a woman on the day of her wedding, who feels out of sync as a storm approaches.
The company is also developing two TV series. They are planning a nature documentary about national parks, which will be announced later this year. The other documentary, ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’, a thriller based on a young adult novel by, Angeline Boulley which is about an 18-year-old Ojibwe tribe member, who reluctantly goes undercover in a police investigation on her reservation.
Netflix had previously announced that Higher Ground Productions, was at work on an animated series for young children, and a scripted series adapted from the Michael Lewis book ‘The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy’.
Netflix said the projects will be released across the next few years but did not give exact release dates.
Making television shows and movies is a time-consuming and difficult process, and some projects that are being developed will wind up not getting made. A few projects that the Obamas previously said they were working on, including a drama set in post-World War II, New York, and a movie about Frederick Douglass, were not part of the announced movies that will be broadcasted. Mr. and Mrs. Obama said in a statement:
“From science fiction to the beauty of our natural world to the relationships that define us, Higher Ground continues to strive for fresh perspectives, compelling characters, and a healthy dose of inspiration”.
The Obamas signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix in 2018 to produce television series, movies, and documentaries. Three years into their deal, Mr. and Mrs. Obama’s efforts have mostly been focused on documentaries. Their production company in 2019 produced their first film, ‘American Factory’, which later won the Oscar for best documentary. They also have produced the documentaries ‘Crip Camp’, which is about the origins of the disability rights movement, and ‘Becoming’, which is a film about Mrs. Obama.
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