Paramount debuted the first look at its upcoming fantasy film “Children of Blood and Bone” at CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theater owners that’s underway in Las Vegas. The film is based on author Tomi Adeyemi’s 2018 novel of the same name, set in a fictional African kingdom full of magic.
Gina Prince-Bythewood directs “Children of Blood and Bone,” her first movie since 2022’s “The Woman King,” which is set to release in theaters and Imax on Jan. 15, 2027. The film stars Thuso Mbedu, who made her breakout film debut in “The Woman King,” as Zelie, a magic user who can command undead spirits. A trailer for the film, which played exclusively at CinemaCon, reveals Zelie’s homeland, the kingdom of Orisha, which is divided into various clans with different abilities. Some people can manipulate water, fire, wind and earth, while others can heal injuries or see into the past or future. However, the ruthless King Saran (Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor) has suppressed magic users and enacts a rule of terror, which Zelie hopes to end in order to reunite Orisha’s clans.
The action-packed and VFX-heavy clip delivers a first look at the film’s all-star cast, which Variety exclusively revealed last year. Tosin Cole plays Zelie’s brother Tzain, Amandla Stenberg is Princess Amari and Damson Idris is Prince Inan, with Lashana Lynch, Oscar nominees Idris Elba and Cynthia Erivo, and Oscar winners Viola Davis and Regina King also taking on key roles. Like Mbedu, Davis and Lynch previously starred in Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King.”
Adeyemi scored a massive publishing deal for her book series, which debuted at No. 1 on the NY Times bestseller list. She followed “The Children of Blood and Bone” with “The Children of Virtue and Vengeance” in 2019 and the final book in the trilogy, “The Children of Anguish and Anarchy,” in 2024.
Ahead of CinemaCon, Prince-Bythewood previewed the footage for industry tastemakers on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles and discussed her process of adapting Adeyemi’s sweeping novel into a “grounded fantasy epic.”
“Despite this fantastical conceit of magic and fantasy, I wanted the audience to feel grounded like they were in the real world,” the filmmaker told ET’s Nischelle Turner, who moderated the conversation. “And that starts with production design. It goes to costume, it goes to casting, it goes to action.”
And it was of utmost importance to shoot the film in various locations across the continent of Africa. “Absolutely, we were going to shoot there,” Prince-Bythewood said. “Then I wanted to give the cast a 360 world to play in. That meant building, as opposed to having a CG world. Costumes drawing inspiration from all over the continent. The action: no wires, no stunt doubles. It’s our cast doing the incredible fighting.”
That fight training paid off with bonus dividends. “The way I love to work is to build athletes, so that they can then do their own stunts,” Prince-Bythewood added. “But I also know how hard it is, and how much it bonds actors. That’s what you see on screen.”
“Children of Blood and Bone” filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood (center) with costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones and star Thuso Mbedu at a preview of the film at Paramount Studios.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures