Universal Pictures has won the rights to Britney Spears’ critically acclaimed #1 New York Times Bestseller The Woman in Me, a project which Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu is attached to develop to direct. Talk about a highly coveted role for any actress–established or frosh: Playing a multi-platinum performer who falls from grace, only to rise again from her roots in Mississippi and Louisiana who blasted off with “…Baby One More Time” in the 1990s to her rebirth in the early aughts with “Piece of Me” after being tabloid fodder.
. Spears originally signed a $15M book deal back in 2022, which was one of the biggest book deals of all-time. The tome follows her rise to fame, her conservatorship, and her newfound freedom.
Chu is a strong suit for the project given his history with musically-charged movies; not just the upcoming Wicked but the concert movie Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Step Up 2: The Streets and In the Heights.
Marc Platt, who recently worked with Chu on Wicked, will produce.
The tell-all book follows Spears’ trajectory to stardom and how she has defined herself through the twists and turns of life. The book sold over 2.5M copies stateside across hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
The audiobook, was read by Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams with an introduction by Britney Spears, is the fastest selling in Simon & Schuster’s history. It was the No. 1 most listened to audiobook on Spotify in 2023. The book was an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller in hardcover, ebook, and audio and it was Simon & Schuster’s biggest selling nonfiction hardcover in 2023. Around the world, there’s over 3 million copies in print. The Woman in Me was published by Gallery Books on October 24, 2023.
Spears myriad career benchmarks counts a Grammy Award, close to 150 million records worldwide with 70M albums, singles and songs sold stateside alone per Nielsen Music.