Story perspectives

Universal Starts Britney Spears Biopic; Jon Chu to Direct.

7/8/2026

Summary

Britney Spears Biopic

Universal Pictures will produce a Britney Spears biopic after securing rights in August 2024, a memoir that sold 1.1 million copies in its first week and whose audiobook narrated by Michelle Williams became Simon & Schuster’s fastest-selling.
Jon M. Chu will direct the film while Liz Meriwether writes the screenplay.
Marc Platt will produce.
Britney Spears announced secret project on social media, thanked Platt and urged fans to stay tuned.

Summary

Spears Biopic Surge

The biopic gains momentum after Antoine Fuqua’s *Michael* grosses $977 million worldwide.
Britney Spears’ 2021 release from a 13-year conservatorship overseen by her father Jamie Spears renewed empathy for her story.
In March 2026 Spears pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received 12 months probation for a DUI.
The memoir sold over 6 million copies worldwide, prompting Universal’s acquisition after bids from Shonda Rhimes, Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap.

Summary

Williams Narrates Audiobook

Michelle Williams narrates the audiobook of Britney Spears’s memoir *The Woman In Me*, marking her first collaboration with screenwriter Liz Meriwether.
Liz Meriwether previously wrote the FX miniseries *Dying For Sex*, which also starred Williams.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story.
Universal Pictures has not commented on the project.
The biopic announcement follows a recent headline about Spears’s DUI arrest and a lasagna offer to police.

Summary

Britney Biopic

Production will re-team with the Wicked film franchise crew to give Britney Spears’s story a similar visual style.
Liz Meriwether, represented by WME and McKuin Frankel, previously created Hulu’s The Furious and produced The Dropout and Bless This Mess.
Universal is producing a Snoop Dogg biopic starring Jonathan Daviss, while studios, after the box-office success of Michael, scout additional music icons for cinematic treatment.

History

Historical Context

Warner Bros.’ 1997 release of *Selena*—directed by Gregory Nava, starring Jennifer Lopez—earned $35 million on a $20 million budget and launched Lopez’s career, while the film’s success prompted a $20 million licensing deal with the Selena estate and later secured National Film Registry preservation in 2021. That model now guides Universal Pictures as it acquires Britney Spears’s memoir rights, showing studios’ ongoing investment in high-budget music biographies.

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Britney Spears Biopic

Universal Pictures will produce a Britney Spears biopic after securing rights in August 2024, a memoir that sold 1.1 million copies in its first week and whose audiobook narrated by Michelle Williams became Simon & Schuster’s fastest-selling.
Jon M. Chu will direct the film while Liz Meriwether writes the screenplay.
Marc Platt will produce.
Britney Spears announced secret project on social media, thanked Platt and urged fans to stay tuned.

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