Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up to be Adapted by ‘This Is Us’ Producer Kay Oyegun for Paramount

Set in the same neighbourhood as The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas’ 2019 novel, On the Come Up returns readers to Garden Heights, this time with the story of Bri, a young rapper and daughter of an underground Hip-Hop legend who died before he made it big. Bri is determined to find her own fame but comes up against prejudice and censorship.

The film adaptation of Thomas’ début novel, The Hate U Give, directed by George Tillman Jr. was, much like the novel itself, a fast hit. Now, it has been revealed that Tillman Jr. will be returning to his directing role for the adaptation of Angie Thomas’ latest novel, On the Come Up.

The film project which was originally set at Fox 2000, which released the 2018 film The Hate U Hive, moved to Paramount Players earlier this year following a Disney takeover which resulted in the Fox division being shuttered.

This Is Us producer and writer, Kay Oyegun, has been given the role of producing the film adaptation of On the Come Up, as well as writing the screenplay for the upcoming movie. This has been a successful year for Oyegun who has worked on the hit drama, This Is Us, since is conception. The Nigerian-American writer-producer has also been tasked to adapted Tomi Adeyemi’s YA fantasy novel, The Children of Blood and Bone, into a screenplay and Paramount Pictures have acquired her script, Assisted Living, in a seven-figured deal.

On the Come Up, produced and written by Kay Oyegun, will be co-produced by Temple Hill and State Street Pictures. While the author of the book, Angie Thomas, will be sticking close to the adaptation of her book, and will be producing the film alongside Temple Hills’ Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner and John Fischer, and State Street Pictures’ Robert Teitel, Tillman and Jay Marcus.

In a Twitter post about the news, an excited Angie Thomas wrote, “Y’all have been asking, and now I can finally share the news. Yes, On the Come Up is being made into a film. Been holding onto this one for a long time. I can’t wait for y’all to see what @kayoyegun is doing. It. Is. Mind. Blowing. So so blessed to have her on board. Between her and @george_tillman Bri, Sonny and Malik are in the best hands.”

So far, no news has been revealed regarding the cast so the actors behind the main characters; Bri, Sonny and Malik, are as of yet unknown. However, this is an adaptation we are extremely excited for, and following the success of The Hate U Give, we’re expecting a strong movie from On the Come Up too.