Update: The first A Wrinkle in Time reviews are in.
Disney and Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time draws mixed reactions, following the movie's premiere last night. In recent years, a certain ritual has taken place whenever a major film, especially one in the Disney stable, has its early premiere. Especially in the case of Star Wars and Marvel movies of the last three or four years, early reactions dribbling in on Twitter after the premiere are typically uniformly positive. Whether it’s the excitement of the premiere or some other factor, that’s usually been the case, with the more mixed reactions usually following sometime after that.
The latest big Disney film, A Wrinkle in Time, had its premiere Monday night (ahead of its theatrical release on March 9), with the social media embargo lifting not long after. And what’s notable this time around is that the reactions appear to be much more mixed than usual for these sorts of events.
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While actors, directors and other performers have generally praised A Wrinkle in Time, critics and journalists haven't been quite so kind in the Twitter reactions so far. While the film is being celebrated for its unique visuals, ambition, Storm Reid's lead performance, and DuVernay's directorial approach, it's also being criticized as an uneven adaptation of a book that was long believed to be un-filmable. Some on social media have further pointed out that following the lifting of the social media embargo, several of the critics in attendance had nothing to say about the film.
For more on that, read the reactions embedded below:
A Wrinkle in Time, directed by DuVernay and adapted from the 1962 novel by Madeleine L'Engle, features a cast that includes the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling, along with newcomer Reid in the lead role. The latest film from the director of the Oscar-nominated Selma and 13th, A Wrinkle in Time has been noted as the largest-budgeted film ever directed by a woman of color.
Are the early reactions a bad sign for the film? That’s certainly possible. DuVernay is a Film Twitter favorite, so it’s possible that there’s an “If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all” factor at play here. It’s also not an especially great sign that the full review embargo for the film isn’t until March 7, a mere 48 hours before the movie hits theaters.
Then again, a very small sample of people have seen the movie so far, so it may not mean all that much for the overall success of A Wrinkle in Time. Time will tell on that front.
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Source: Various [see the links above]
