Jay-Z Developing Thriller Adaptation ‘Forty Acres’ for Netflix

Netflix Jay Z
Credit: Netflix

‘The Firm’ meets ‘Get Out’? Yes, please.

A film adaptation of Dwayne Alexander Smith’s novel ‘Forty Acres’ is in development at Netflix, Deadline reported this week. Jay-Z will be part of the producing team, and ‘Luke Cage’ creator Cheo Hodari Coker will write the screen adaptation.

The source novel ‘Forty Acres’ “follows a civil rights attorney who must fight for survival when he’s invited to join an elite Black organization with a mind-blowing secret.” The team has described the project as “a cross between ‘The Firm’ and ‘Get Out.’

Joining Jay-Z to on the producing front are James Lassiter (who previously collaborated with Jay-Z on Netflix’s ‘The Harder They Fall’), Kapital Entertainment’s Aaron Kaplan, Niles Kirchner, and Bill Straw. Kapital’s Dana Honor, author Dwayne Alexander Smith, and Mike Epps with executive produce.

As we all rush to catch up on Smith’s 2015 novel, we can only go off of that teaser of a description for what the film will look like. We’re dreaming of ‘Forty Acres’ having the electric thrill of Tom Cruise in ‘The Firm’ and the potent singularity of Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’. Either way, we’re in for something special over at Netflix.