Principal photography began on November 2, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. With a production budget of $100 million, the film became the first live-action film with a nine-digit budget to be directed by a woman of color. A Wrinkle in Time was released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on March 9, 2018, in Disney Digital 3-D, Real D 3D, and IMAX.[5] The film received mixed reviews, with critics "taking issue with the film's heavy use of CGI and numerous plot holes" while "celebrating its message of female empowerment and diversity."[6]
Plot
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After learning her astrophysicist father is being held captive on a distant planet deep in the grip of a universe-spanning evil, Meg Murry works with her younger brother Charles Wallace, her fellow student Calvin O'Keefe, and three astral travelers to save him.
Cast
2
Production
DuVernay became the first black woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of over $100 million.
In October 2010, it was announced that Walt Disney Pictures had retained the film rights for the 1962 novel A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, which had previously been made as a 2003 television film. Following the financial success of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), Disney announced that they had hired Jeff Stockwell to write the screenplay for Cary Granat and his new Bedrock Studios. Granat had previously worked with Disney on the Chronicles of Narnia and Bridge to Terabithia films.[8] The project's budget was slated to be $35 million, which the company compared to District 9 and Bridge to Terabithia, both of which were made for less than $30 million.[9] On August 5, 2014, Jennifer Lee was announced as the screenwriter, taking over from Stockwell, who wrote the first draft.[10][11] On February 8, 2016, it was reported that Ava DuVernay had been offered the job of directing the film, and she was confirmed to direct later that same month.[12][13] She became the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a production budget over $100 million.[14]
On July 26, 2016, Variety reported that Oprah Winfrey had began final negotiations to join the film, to play Mrs. Which, the eldest of the three Mrs. Ws, celestial beings who help guide the children along their journey.[15] On September 7, 2016, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling were reported as being in talks to join the film, with Witherspoon to play Mrs. Whatsit, who presents as a chatty, grandmotherly hobo, and Kaling set for the quotation-reciting Mrs. Who.[16] On September 13, 2016, Storm Reid was cast in the lead role of Meg Murry, a young girl traumatized by the disappearance of her scientist father years before.[17] In October 2016, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris Pine were cast as the parents of Meg, Dr. Kate Murry and Dr. Alex Murry, respectively.[18][19] On November 1, 2016, more cast were announced, including Zach Galifianakis as the Happy Medium, André Holland as Principal Jenkins, Levi Miller as Calvin, and Deric McCabe as Charles Wallace, along with Bellamy Young, Rowan Blanchard and Will McCormack.[20]Michael Peña later also joined the cast to play the character Red.[21] The producers on the film are James Whitaker and Catherine Hand.[20]
Filming for A Wrinkle in Time took place in in multiple locations including Eureka, California, in Humboldt County, starting on November 29, 2016.[25] Filming also took place at Eureka's Sequoia Park, located next to Sequoia Park Zoo. None of the film's major actors were present in Eureka.[26] In mid-December, Pine was spotted during filming in Los Angeles.[27]
During the last two weeks of February 2017, filming locations for A Wrinkle in Time were established to be in Central Otago, New Zealand.[28] Actors and crew involved were in New Zealand for the two weeks to shoot scenes in the Southern Alps, including at Hunter Valley Station near Lake Hāwea, with cast and crew treated to a traditional Māoripowhiri and karakia, by the Māori of New Zealand.[29] Filming wrapped in New Zealand's South Island after two weeks, and DuVernay declared the cast and crew's love for New Zealand in an Instagram post.[30]
The film was released in the United States on March 9, 2018.[33] It was previously set for an April 6, 2018 release.[34]
Marketing
DuVernay announced a teaser trailer for the film would debut at the 2017 D23 expo; it was released on July 15, 2017.[35]
Reception
Box office
As of March 11, 2018[update], A Wrinkle in Time has grossed $33.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $39.6 million.[4] With a combined $250 million spent on production and advertisement, the film will need to gross at least $400 million worldwide to turn a profit.[36]
In the United States and Canada, A Wrinkle in Time was released alongside The Hurricane Heist, Gringo and The Strangers: Prey at Night, and was projected to gross $30–38 million from 3,980 theaters in its opening weekend.[37] It made $10.2 million on its first day, including $1.3 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $33.3 million, finishing second behind Disney's own Black Panther ($41.1 million in its fourth weekend).
Internationally the film opened in six countries alongside the United States and grossed $6.3 million in its opening weekend, with Russia being the largest market with $4.1 million.[38]
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 42% based on 162 reviews, and an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A Wrinkle in Time is visually gorgeous, big-hearted, and occasionally quite moving; unfortunately, it's also wildly ambitious to a fault, and often less than the sum of its classic parts."[39] On Metacritic, which assigns normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[40] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale; filmgoers under the age of 18 gave it an average grade of "A–" and a PostTrak positive score of 89%.[3]
Alonso Duralde of TheWrap praised the film's eye candy and performances, writing, "Awash in bold colors, bright patterns and ebullient kids, director Ava DuVernay’s new take on A Wrinkle in Time dazzles its way across time and space even if it doesn’t quite stick the landing."[41] David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "C+" and praised what he described as its ambition, saying: "It almost doesn’t matter that the movie is too emotionally prescriptive to have any real power, or too high on imagination to leave any room for wonder; DuVernay evinces such faith in who she is and what she’s doing that A Wrinkle in Time remains true to itself even when everything on screen reads false."[42]
Alex Hudson of Exclaim! gave the film a 5 out of 10, saying that it felt "like a missed opportunity. Rather than a family classic, all we get is a perfectly fine kids movie."[43] Vince Mancini of Uproxx gave the film a negative review, saying, "...if anything, the trouble with Wrinkle is that you never really get a sense of DuVernay’s personal touch. In fact, it feels a lot like Brad Bird's big budget, equally smarmy 2015 Disney film, Tomorrowland. Both attempt to be so broad and universal that they feel disconnected from anything human. But universality doesn’t work that way, no matter how much you tell everyone to think like a kid."[44]
^ abcdefgh"A Wrinkle in Time Press Kit"(PDF). wdsmediafile.com. The Walt Disney Studios. Retrieved March 7, 2018. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
