Universal Pictures has landed the rights to Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman In Me and will develop a biopic of the pop star to be directed by Jon M. Chu, the studio has announced.

After a competitive auction, Universal won the movie rights to the memoir, which has sold more than 2.5 million copies since it was released in October 2023.

Marc Platt, the veteran producer of Wicked and La La Land, is set to produce, with Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In The Heights) to direct.

Spears celebrated the news on X, where she tweeted that she was “excited to share with my fans that I’ve been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He’s always made my favourite movies … stay tuned”.

Spears, 42, in her book chronicles her rise to fame from The Mickey Mouse Club to global pop stardom, as well as her struggles with the conservatorship that was dissolved in 2021.

The memoir, sales of which were boosted by an audiobook read by Michelle Williams, included the revelation that she had an abortion while dating Justin Timberlake more than 20 years ago.

Spears deleted her Instagram account in April, less than 24 hours after uploading a scathing post about her family.

Spears told her 42 million followers that she received “no justice” following the shock settlement in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.

Music biopics have been one of Hollywood’s most popular genres in recent years, with recent films about Elvis, Amy Winehouse and Bob Marley.

Upcoming releases include A Complete Unknown, with Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, and The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White is in talks to play US rocker Bruce Springsteen.

Director Sam Mendes is making four separate biopics about each of the Beatles, set for release in 2027, while Spiderman’s Tom Holland is set to play American Fred Astaire, regarded as the greatest popular music dancer of all time.

Angelina Jolie returns to the big screen in Maria, playing opera diva Maria Callas [in post-production] and Jaafar Jackson is portraying his uncle Michael Jackson in Michael.

-with AAP