Following the universal acclaim and commercial prosperity of Wonder starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay, Lionsgate is now developing another film based on New York Times best-selling author R.J. Palacio’s books. The studio will try to adapt the author’s novel White Bird: A Wonder Story, according to Deadline.
White Bird was released just yesterday on October 1st in bookstores through Alfred A. Knopf, and encompasses the same universe as its predecessor Wonder which centered on a young boy Auggie Pullman born with facial differences and his elevation to a mainstream elementary school. White Bird, on the other hand, examines a young Jewish girl hidden by a boy and his family in Nazi-occupied France in the middle of World War II. The story is told from the perspective of Grandmere to her grandson, Julian, who also maintained a role in Wonder. Grandmere’s trials and tribulations detail her fairytale-esque life before the war broke and the events building up to the rise of Nazi-occupied France. The boy she befriends eventually becomes her rescuer.
White Bird exhibits the power of tender kindness through adversity and struggle. The film will be supervised by James Myers on behalf of Lionsgate. Wonder was released in 2017 and accumulated over $305 million at the box office globally.