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In the first acquisition since announcing their first-look deal, Warner Bros and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society have acquired films rights to Marlon James’ new fantasy epic novel Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Based in African mythology, Black Leopard, Red Wolf follows Tracker, who has a keen sense of smell. He’s hired to find a missing child against a backdrop of competing kingdoms and violent political upheaval. The story touts a wild cast of characters including a witch, a shape-shifting leopard, a murderous hyena, and conjoined twins. It’s the first book in James’ Dark Star Trilogy where African myth, fantasy and history come together.

James will remain an Ep on the project. Anonymous Content and Ellen Levine of Trident Media Group brokered the deal. The Riverhead Books novel hit shelves Tuesday.

James is the Booker Prize-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society and Warner Bros. have nabbed the film rights to “Black Leopard, Red Wolf,” a buzzy new fantasy novel by Marlon James.

“Black Leopard, Red Wolf” draws on African mythology to tell the story of Tracker, whose acute sense of smell leads him to be hired to find a missing child against a backdrop of warring kingdoms and political chaos. The child he seeks may be the heir to an empire, something that complicates matters. James referred to the often bloody epic as an “African ‘Game of Thrones,’” but later said he was joking. Still, it includes plenty of the elements that made that HBO show a water-cooler phenomenon including witches, a shape-shifting leopard, a killer hyena, and conjoined twins.

The book is the initial entry in James’ planned Dark Star Trilogy. James, best known for writing the best-seller “A Brief History of Seven Killings,...