Paramount’s Bob Marley Biopic First Look Leaves CinemaCon Jammin’

CinemaCon was Jammin’ at the first footage Paramount revealed for its Bob Marley biopic, which the studio revealed is titled “Bob Marley: One Love.”

Kingsley Ben-Adir, known for the “High Fidelity” series remake and who will be seen in the upcoming “Barbie” movie, stars as the reggae legend in this musical film that’s directed and written by Reinaldo Marcus Green (“King Richard”).

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The teaser footage for “One Love,” which Paramount screened on Thursday morning during its presentation on the final day of CinemaCon but not yet online, featured Ben-Adir singing and also showed Marley’s journey from a laid back artist to a revolutionary as a result of the violence that followed him, including the assassination attempt he survived in 1976. The trailer moves from the levity of “Jammin'” in the soundtrack and a more ordinary music biopic to the emotional heft of “Exodus” as the trailer deepens in seriousness and invokes the larger history around him.

Ziggy Marley, Bob Marley’s son and also a producer on the movie, appeared on stage to tout the film, saying that they would only have made “One Love” if they could get it right, and how his father faced so much adversity in “spreading his message of rebellion” and “revolution.”

Lashana Lynch stars as Marley’s wife Rita, and the cast is rounded out by James Norton, Tosin Cole, Anthony Welsh, Michael Gandolfini, Umi Myers, and Nadine Marshall.

Robert Teitel, Jeremy Kleiner, and Dede Gardner all produced the film alongside Ziggy Marley, Rita Marley, and Cedella Marley, Bob Marley’s mother.

Paramount has dated the Bob Marley biopic for a wide release on January 12, 2024.

Paramount’s presentation also included new footage from “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part 1,” from Apple and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” that Paramount will be releasing, and details about new animated films such as “The Smurfs,” a “Transformers” film, and a fourth “SpongeBob Squarepants” movie.

Bob Marley died in 1981 as a result of melanoma.

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