Universal Pictures has secured the rights to Britney Spears’ critically acclaimed memoir, The Woman in Me, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Jon M. Chu, known for his work on Wicked and In the Heights, is attached to direct the adaptation. The memoir explores Spears’ rise to fame, her conservatorship, and her newfound freedom, detailing her journey from a Mississippi and Louisiana native to a global pop sensation. The book, which Spears signed a $15 million deal for in 2022, chronicles her career from the iconic hit “…Baby One More Time” in the 1990s to her resurgence with “Piece of Me” in the early 2000s after enduring intense media scrutiny.
The Woman in Me has sold over 2.5 million copies in the U.S. across hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats. The audiobook, narrated by Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams with an introduction by Spears, became the fastest-selling audiobook in Simon & Schuster’s history and topped Spotify’s charts in 2023. It was also Simon & Schuster’s biggest-selling nonfiction hardcover of the year. Worldwide, the book has over 3 million copies in print and was published by Gallery Books on October 24, 2023.
Spears, who has won a Grammy Award and sold nearly 150 million records globally, continues to be a significant figure in the music industry with 70 million albums, singles, and songs sold in the U.S. alone, according to Nielsen Music. Marc Platt, who recently collaborated with Chu on Wicked, will produce the film adaptation.
