EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is in early development on Pride, a movie based on the 2018 YA novel by Haitian American author Ibi Zoboi. The project, a modern — and timely –retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, comes from President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground and the company behind the book, Alloy Entertainment. Karen Joseph Adcock (The Bear) is writing the adaptation.
Set in the gentrifying Bushwick area of Brooklyn, NY, Pride centers on Afro-Latina teen Zuri Benitez who fights to preserve her neighborhood and manage family chaos. But when the wealthy Darcy family moves in next door, Zuri’s disdain for the arrogant Darius Darcy turns into an unexpected connection that forces her to reconsider everything she thought she knew about pride, prejudice, and home.
Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton produce for Alloy Entertainment. Vinnie Malhotra, President of Higher Ground Productions, Anikah McLaren, Head of Film, and Mark Wright, VP of Film, produce on behalf of Higher Ground under the company’s deal with Netflix.
Alloy previously shepherded a TV series adaptation of Pride, which was set up at HBO in 2020 with Aziza Barnes as writer/executive producer and Natasha Rothwell as executive producer.
Meanwhile, it was revealed last week that Netflix is developing a new Pride and Prejudice series adaptation written by Dolly Alderton.
After making its mark in the docu space with films like the Oscar-winner American Factory, Higher Ground has expanded into narrative movies with thriller Leave The World Behind, #5 on Netflix’s most popular movies of all time, and the Oscar-nominated Rustin.
Alloy Entertainment has had three films, You Are SO Not Coming to My Bat Mitzvah, Purple Hearts and Work It, that have debuted at #1 on Netflix. The company’s first genre feature, Tarot, had a theatrical release through Sony/Screen Gems earlier this year.
Adcock is a co-producer on The Bear. She shared a WGA Award with the FX show’s writing team. Her TV series credits also include Showtime’s Yellowjackets and two series from Donald Glover, Atlanta, for which she shared a Peabody Award, and Swarm. She is repped by WME and Entertainment 360.
Zoboi, who immigrated from Haiti with her parents when she was four years old, has also written American Street, a National Book Award finalist; and Punching the Air, winner of the Walter Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
