Rick Famuyiwa’s Producing an African Princess Movie For Disney

Here's a cool piece of news: according to Deadline, Dope's Rick Famuyiwa has officially joined forces with Disney to produce Sadé, a live-action fairytale about an African princess.

Based on an original idea by Ola Shokunbi and Lindsey Reed Palmer (who will also co-write the film), Sadé sounds a lot like the classic Disney fairytales ... with the added (and not insubstantial!) bonus of being the first time that an original Disney princess will be African: 

"[Sadé] centers on a young African girl named Sadé who, when her kingdom is threatened by a mysterious evil force, accepts her newly discovered magical warrior powers to protect herself and her people. With the help of the kingdom’s prince, Sadé embarks on an adventure that will allow her to embrace what makes her special and save the kingdom."

Disney made The Princess And The Frog back in 2009, so this won't technically be Disney's first black princess, but it will be their first live-action one, and that's ... hoo, boy, that's long overdue. Famuyiwa's involvement is also intriguing: the guy came very close to directing a Flash solo film for Warner Bros., only to part company with the project over the dreaded "creative differences" back in 2016. We were big fans of Dope, so we're happy to see that our dude is still very much in the game. 

No director's been named and we're a ways off from any of Sadé's roles being cast, but we'll keep you informed as further updates roll in on this one. Stay tuned, gang.

(Header photo by Gage Skidmore, used with permission via Wikimedia Commons)