Sundance: HBO Films Acquires A24's 'Native Son'

Ashton Sanders stars in the modern reimagining of Richard Wright’s seminal novel.

Ahead of its Sundance debut, HBO Films has picked up A24's modern adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son.

Moonlight actor Ashton Sanders stars in the reimagining of the seminal 1940 novel as a young African-American man named Bigger Thomas who takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever. Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, KiKi Layne and Bill Camp also star.

Visual artist Rashid Johnson made his filmmaking debut with the movie, directing from a script by Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks.

The pic was financed by Bow + Arrow. Matthew Perniciaro and Michael Sherman of Bow and Arrow Entertainment produced, with Stephanie Meurer acting as executive producer.

HBO Films is aiming for a debut later this year for the drama, which will screen in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section. HBO made news at last year's Sundance Film Festival after acquiring the Laura Dern-starrer The Tale out of the fest. The network is not known to pick up finished narrative features, instead opting to develop and produce projects in-house.

For its part, A24 will work with HBO on the marketing for Native Son. The studio, which has long acted as theatrical distributor on indie acquisition titles, has begun to produce more of its own projects and recently signed a multiyear deal with Apple to produce a slate of movies for the tech giant.