Bob Marley Biopic Will Be Released In 2024 Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir 

Kingsley Ben-Adir will play the reggae legend in the film.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

According to Deadline, King Richard filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green’s unnamed biopic on the singer, featuring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the legendary reggae musician, will be released on January 12, 2024.

Green informed Collider in November 2021 that the film would mostly focus on the development of Exodus, Marley’s 1977 studio album as part of Bob Marley and the Wailers. “I think it’s [about] it’s finding that right window into his life,” Green said. “Our film starts in ’76 and really it’s about the making of Exodus. So that’s primarily the window that we’re going to focus on, with obviously, some flashes to his early life.” 

The album is especially notable in Marley’s history because it was recorded shortly after the musician escaped an attempted assassination and was exiled to England from his native Jamaica.

Green is reunited with previous collaborator Zach Baylin, who collaborated with Green on King Richard, as well as Ziggy Marley, the son of the prolific phenomenon. More specific plot details about the biopic are being kept under wraps, but given the time period around when Exodus was released, and the impact that events in Marley’s life around that time had on his success, personal life, and health, it’s not difficult to imagine some of the aspects that may end up in the film. The film’s executive producers include Marley’s wife Rita Marley and daughter Cedella Marley, as well as Robert Teitel.

The upcoming biopic is one of several currently in development about famous pop culture figures, and is one of several specifically about musicians to have been developed in recent years, including the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody and the wildly successful Rocketman, as well as this year’s aptly titled Elvis. Green obviously has a lot of experience telling stories about real-life figures, having recently directed a film about Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, as well as the upcoming series We Own This City, which is about real-life corruption in the Baltimore Police Department.

On January 12, 2024, the untitled Bob Marley film will be released.