In a highly competitive situation, Black Bear Pictures and Plan B Entertainment have acquired the rights to Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning novelist Richard Powers’ upcoming novel, Bewilderment,to be adapted for feature film. The adaptation of the much-anticipated follow-up to The Overstory,for which Powers received his Pulitzer, will be financed by Black Bear Pictures (The Imitation Game, Mudbound, upcoming I Care a Lot), who will also develop and produce alongside Plan B Entertainment (Minari, Moonlight, 12 Years a Slave).

In the near future amidst Earth’s slow deterioration, a widowed father of a most unusual and troubled nine-year-old boy turns to an experimental neurological treatment in order to save his son. The novel, which is due to be published in Fall of 2021 by W.W. Norton & Company, is described by the publisher as “offering soaring descriptions of the natural world, tantalizing visions of life beyond it, and the fierce love of a father for his young son.”

Powers is a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his acclaimed novel The Overstory, which is currently being developed by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for Netflix. Described as an “historian of contemporary society” – Peter Brooks, Powers is the author of twelve novels and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Book Award. A few of his most notable works include The Echo Maker, Operation Wandering Soul, The Gold Bug Variations, and Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance.

Black Bear’s Head of Film Leigh Kittay said: “With its first few pages, Powers’ novel completely captivated us and with its last, it bowled us over. Powers creates a texture and specificity to our future that feels simultaneously sweepingly large and breathtakingly intimate, told through the most relatable point of view: the ferocious love of a parent for his child and his struggle to provide him a better tomorrow. We at Black Bear are honored to bring this beautiful story to the big screen and couldn’t have better producing partners than our friends at Plan B.”

Author Richard Powers added: ““I’m thrilled that this book about a deeply visual boy attuned to the magic of living things will itself get a chance to become visual magic.”

Powers is represented by CAA and Melanie Jackson Agency.