Ava DuVernay, ‘Wrinkle in Time’ cast and crew do ‘Mannequin Challenge,’ announce release date

Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time” will debut in theaters on April 6, 2018, director Ava DuVernay announced on Twitter Monday. The reveal came in the form of a video of the film’s cast and crew doing the latest Internet craze, the Mannequin Challenge. 

The film adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic children’s book stars a mix of rising stars and big names including Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Zach Galifianakis, Mindy Kaling, Chris Pine and Gugu Mbatha-Raw on the call sheet.

Reid will be the main character, Meg Murry, a young girl on a time-traveling journey to find her father, a scientist played by Pine. A trio of supernatural guardians, Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon), Mrs. Who (Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Winfrey), aid her.

The Mannequin Challenge is an online phenomenon where people freeze, as if they were mannequins, as a camera pans across a scene. Countless notable people have participated including Destiny’s Child, First Lady Michelle Obama and LeBron James (in the White House, too). 

With “A Wrinkle in Time,” DuVernay is the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a production budget over $100 million. Much of the big-budget flick will be shot in and around the Los Angeles area and is one of 28 movie projects selected under California’s film and television tax credit program. According to state officials, “A Wrinkle in Time” will bring in $85 million in qualified spending to California and receive an incentive of $18 million, the largest since the state program expanded in 2014.

Shooting is set to begin later this month.

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