Warner Bros. has set the release date for the Michael B. Jordan legal drama, Just Mercy.
It will arrive in theaters on January 1, 2020.
The film is based on the book which chronicles the real-life story of social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative.
The description, per The Hollywood Reporter: “Just Mercy was a memoir that told of Stevenson’s first case, that of Walter McMillian, a young black man sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. Despite being at a barbecue surrounded by dozens of witnesses at the time of the murder, McMillian was convicted in a trial that lasted a day and a half and spent six years on death row. Stevenson’s taking on the case eventually led to the discovery that the prosecution suppressed evidence and McMillian’s exoneration. It drew critical raves, with reviewers likening it to To Kill a Mockingbird.
The film was first announced in 2015 and is now set up at Warner Bros. who just obtained the rights. It was first set up at Broad Green Pictures before it shuttered.
The ever-busy Jordan, who has Fahrenheit 451 at HBO coming out in May, also has set up a starring role in the remake of A Bittersweet Life; a starring role in the Ryan Coogler-helmed Wrong Answer; developing a coming-of-age drama with Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney for OWN; producing the animated movie Super Day Care with the team behind Megamind; producing the black family superhero drama Raising Dion at Netflix; producing a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair (which he could star in); producing the WWII drama film The Liberators and directing his feature debut, The Stars Beneath Our Feet.
BUSY!