Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is setting his sights on a different kind of superhero. According to published reports, Coogler will produce an as-yet-untitled musical film based on the song catalog of Prince. The Proximity Media project has been in development since 2018 and will be released by Universal Pictures.
The script was written by Bryan Edward Hill. It will be produced by Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian, and Universal Music Publishing Group head Jody Gerson. Proximity’s Rebecca Cho will executive produce.
No further details have been released about the film, the first of its type featuring Prince’s music. The artist, who died in 2016 at the age of 57, starred in the iconic 1984 musical Purple Rain, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He also contributed the theme song to the 1989 film Batman.
Purple Rain is headed to the stage in musical form as well, with Pulitzer Prize nominee Branden Jacobs-Jenkins writing and Lileana Blain-Cruz directing. “We are thrilled with our Broadway partners and creative team, who are bringing a theatricality to the film’s original fictional story,” Prince estate representatives L. Londell McMillan and Primary Wave Music’s Larry Mestel said in a January statement about the endeavor, no launch date for which has been confirmed.
As for Coogler, he will re-team with frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan on an untitled Warner Bros. film due March 7, 2025.