Disney's Failed Next Big Thing: A Wrinkle in Time

[@Boricua_User146]

Saw this movie on a flight, and people were still walking out.

[@yips91111]

underrated comment

[@CaptDeadpool32]

That's pretty fucking funny

[@jamesrooney4839]

So funny

[@christianhardtofind6349]

Nice!

[@Jasonvollero]

I watched it at my house and walked out too…and kicked my dog

[@puremilkgenius]

A Wrinkle in Time (the book) didn't sell well because audiences liked it. It sold well because teachers liked it. Teachers can purchase a whole class worth of books.

[@MJTRadio]

In Disney’s defense, Wrinkle in Time is an unbelievably hard book to adapt at all, and trying to do so as a big budget, general audiences production is going to compound those problems. Decidedly NOT to Disney’s defense… they really should have known that.

[@whitleypedia]

Its also a YA book from the 60s, meaning it wont appeal to YAs in the 2010s as much as Hunger Games or Twilight.

[@heymistercarter.]

There have been quite a few books that many have thought were unable to be adapted into films, such as Lord of the Rings and DUNE, and both of those have gotten successful adaptations in the last few decades. So I don't think it's impossible to adapt A Wrinkle In Time to a film. You just need the right director and writing team to help bring the vision to life. And as talented a filmmaker as Ava DuVernay is, I don't think she was the right director for a project like this. The script she had to work with didn't fully benefit her either.

[@whitleypedia]

@@heymistercarter. it has no cool fight scenes

[@erikwirfs-brock2432]

I would agree, it's a mystical sci fi novel from the early sixties and feels like it, I liked it as a kid reading it in the eighties but would never think it would be a good movie to appeal to modern kids.

[@officialmonarchmusic]

I like it as a 60s period piece but you are 100% right. I personally think the best route would've been to make a lower budget film focusing on the fantastical nature of the story and leaning into the horror angle of Camazotz, and how it reflected fears around totalitarianism at the time. You'd attract a small audience, but a niche that would really appreciate it

[@MICHA-tc9tm]

Polish branch of Disney knew this movie gonna flop so they remove it from the schedule and it didin't relase theatrically here.

[@thehouseofoverthinking]

Also, it's main stars aren't white, and Poland has its preferences 😅

[@anyaaa2801]

​@@thehouseofoverthinking A diverse cast has nothing to do with a movie bombing. Come up with a better excuse smh.

[@holypaladin334]

@@anyaaa2801that’s not what he said, poles are racist.

[@thehouseofoverthinking]

@anyaaa2801 I know. But I've spent time in Poland and I liked my time there a lot, but I wouldn't recommend someone go there if they aren't caucasian. Sometimes societal attitudes do play a role in a film's reception, such as South Korea largely rejecting The Little Mermaid, compared to other countries.

[@blaheedsimmons2226]

​@thehouseofoverthinking he didn't pick up on your humour lol plus his comment had nothing to do with what yu said lol

[@alexiscastromendez9090]

The scene in the movie where the kid touches Oprah's face, i couldnt help but think it was such a perfect representation of how huge her ego is Like if she was saying "yes mere creature, you may touch me, im this great" 😅😅

[@Lilcutiepie95]

😂

[@roberttreacy8271]

3:24 I think Mortal Engines deserves its own video.

[@isenhartproductions2677]

Agreed

[@tabbitee]

I gave myself a single criterion for whether I would watch that movie: if Hester's scar was book accurate, I'd watch it. It wasn't, so I didn't.

[@Quossum]

@@tabbiteeI agree! I enjoyed the visuals of the movie to an extent, just imagining the sheer scale of the cities, but that was about it.

[@capitaokanalha6186]

Some movie suggestions for the “franchise that never was” list: Ender’s Game The Darkest Mind The Giver City of Ember Mortal Engines The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones The Last Airbender The Spiderwick Chronicles

[@ericmilnesoto2727]

Oh, Ender's game. The movie where they thought erasing half of the plot of the book was a great idea.

[@bradwolf07]

Is it bad that I watched every single movie on your list (even though I never watched one being featured in this video)?

[@coolboss999]

I'm still mad to this day the Darkest Minds failed to become a franchise. The movie made me read the books and it had SO much potential

[@serenitynow85]

The Fifth Wave

[@aimanmarzuqi4804]

Don't forget, "I am Number Four". That was a damn shame

[@MrMaxHauser]

Fun fact: the book was rejected by 27 publishers

[@LilyApus]

and still got published and became a classic as far as I'm aware, 27 publishers had no idea what they had in their hands I guess

[@vaclavmacgregor2464]

And this film by dozens of countries!

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

So? And your fun fact point is?

[@simondillon9515]

Thanks for the fun fact no wonder it bombed 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

@@simondillon9515 no wonder?! That's your criteria, 27 publishers passed on it so it must've been pretty bad? When it found a publisher it took off, sold millions... you can bet the CEOs of those other 27 said "I want whatever editor passed on it and I want his head on a platter....welll, maybe just fired!" Fun fact...it's still in print...

[@nathangibbons9492]

I hated the fact that they took away the Orwellian neighborhood from the third act of the novel, that part really stuck with me & they dedicated barely a minute of it in the film

[@officialmonarchmusic]

The Orwellian element of the book stuck with young me more than anything else, and the fact that in the film these people aren't treated like they are real! It's implied they are just projections conjured by IT

[@jacindaellison3363]

That really sucked! I remember that being one of the worst things about the adaptation. And, I hated the way they treat most of the male characters, especially MEG'S FATHER.

[@queendsheena1]

Hollywood has a huge problem giving their unproven tentpoles an uncompetitive release date. A Wrinkle in Time was released in March 2018. The same month that Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim Uprising, and Ready Player One came to theatres. They should've dropped A Wrinkle in Time in January to at least pray to break even. But no, Disney decided to pretend it could compete against franchises like Tomb Raider and Pacific Rim. The movie was already destined to fail and Disney turned it into a massacre with terrible marketing and release date decisions.

[@oscararrieta228]

Well the four are horrible movies

[@killgoretrout877]

it's simple. no one wants to pay to look at blacks that long

[@gisela_oliveira]

sometimes it feels like someone inside Disney is purposely sabotaging this movies, scheaduling bad relese dates, making bad trailers, aproving stupid budgets and ideas... I don't mind, because is really dislike disney, but I feel bad for all the people working there and, probaly, losing their job after the movie they worked on failed.

[@angelahull9064]

It wasn't bad, it just couldn't find a tone to go with.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

The problem I have with casting Big Stars is all I see is the Big Star and not the character. Oprah, Witherspoon et al were just cosplayers... other movies I've seen that were great was because I had no idea who the cast was, I saw the character

[@killgoretrout877]

lol the problem is trying to convince us a black kid is smart

[@AmishParadise27]

One notable thing about the movie for me, even though I do not remember this movie much, was a scene near the beginning of the movie where Reese Witherspoon's character appeared in someone's house randomly and my friend randomly riffed "Hello police? There is a Reese Witherspoon in my house right now... not that I am complaining".

[@AlexaSmith]

are you actually amish

[@AmishParadise27]

Nope. Reference to the Weird Al song.

[@ChrisNoonetheFirst]

@@AmishParadise27 Bin spendin most our lives...

[@BardicDesperation]

This book was introduced to us when we were in 3rd grade and I absolutely loved it (thank you, Ms. Carlson!) This movie was so bad, I had to hunt down a copy of the book and read it again to make sure I wasn't remembering it wrong.

[@singletonr]

My son read the book for school in fourth grade and really enjoyed it. We watched the movie on Disney+ about a year later. He was livid.

[@DrRotwang]

My teenager read "Johnny Mnemonic" and loved it. We watched the movie, and she was, like, "What the hell...?!"

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

Your son has good taste.

[@vonsowards1297]

They removed all the Christian messages and themes. Quite literally the turning point for Meg in the book is when Mrs. Who quotes St Paul to her! But they inserted quotes from Buddha and Gandhi, so it wasn’t like they wanted to avoid religious figures, just one specific religion’s figures. And that was the one that the author belonged to.

[@eleonorepb4565]

If I remember correctly they still mention Jesus.

[@jacindaellison3363]

​@eleonorepb4565 Oh, trust me. They never mentioned Jesus or God in the remake to A Wrinkle in Time-I saw the movie. It's even confirmed on Wikipedia. All because they wanted it be more "inclusive" THE BOOK WAS INCLUSIVE.

[@brown_recluse_human3458]

I don't need no jesus freaks. I don't need no thought police.

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

​@@jacindaellison3363Wow.... that's funny because having the predominately Black cast, guess what religion a lot of Black folks follow? CHRISTIANITY. At this point we know what they're doing. And they're not even doing it well.

[@TheRogerRabbitEnthusiast]

Are you planning on doing a Disney’s Failed Next Big Thing on The Nutcracker and the Four Realms?

[@singstreetcar5881]

Damn, this movie was released the same period as black panther? I swear I thought this film came out in 2010 or 2011

[@kaylynreynolds6551]

That’s what I thought. I remember it coming out so long ago.

[@_Vintag3Madn3ss95_]

Same, it has been a long time since I saw this movie

[@Mayor_Of_Eureka17]

Poor Mortal Engines....i enjoyed the hell out of that flick.

[@800Ms-k6n]

Mortal Engines felt like a second act of a movie that was stretched for 2 hours

[@BrontoSmilodon1]

At this point Disney wasn't trying to recapture Pirates and was trying to be a family friendly young adult answer to the Hunger Games.

[@serenitynow85]

He means franchise-wise, not thematically

[@BrontoSmilodon1]

@serenitynow85 yeah that's where I'm getting at, this and other movies were trying to go after the same young adult crap franchises like Hunger Games made popular for a bit and then everyone got YA fatigue.

[@vaclavmacgregor2464]

As someone who loved the book I hated this film,the heart of the book was belief and religion one that made it great but this film violently pulled out its beating heart and main theme and just felt empty-lifeless if you will.This is the single reason why it failed,it hollowed a great story out.

[@lumirairazbyte9697]

So Golden Compass 2.0.? An adaptation that can’t touch on religion themes?

[@tonymata8070]

@@lumirairazbyte9697 Pretty much, yeah.

[@assassin8636]

Is it really that bad?

[@vaclavmacgregor2464]

@@assassin8636 Its empty,it killed a great story about equality and thats not even getting into the...questionable casting(Mr whatzit was elderly in the books but here she is a middle aged woman probably because old people are useless according the them once again going against the book!)sigh....Madeleine Lengle is rolling in her grave...

[@kitlc1]

My friend saw this movie and then took me to see it just because she wanted someone to talk to about how wild it was. She paid for my ticket. That’s how much she wanted me to witness this.

[@alexis7386]

The biggest problem is both Ava and Oprah never read A Wrinke In Time when they were children. They did not understand what it meant growing up with these books and what was special about them.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

That shouldn't necessarily have mattered in Oprah's case. IIRC, neither Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen or Sean Astin had read The Lord of the Rings prior to making the films.

[@anyaaa2801]

Some of these people need to stop saying that diversity is the reason why a movie bombs. Like use your brain more to come up with a better excuse.

[@mr.s2005]

on the other hand, people need to stop using diversity has an defense and claim it was only because of racism that it failed, need to come up with better excuses

[@bobafettjr85]

If people used their brains we would live in a much better world altogether.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

I'm a liberal and I'm a stickler for STICK TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL! I'm tired of Hollywood's predilection for race/gender swapping to please a "modern" audience... if an author had diverse characters, no problem... if not, leave it be!!

[@moonman2022]

Exactly! It was blackness that killed the movie. One look at the poster and boom, audience gone.

[@gilbertculloden87]

For this film, the "diversity" was frustrating because they changed the story to accommodate the casting. In the book Charles Wallace is Meg's biological brother (and the whole family is white), but this movie made Charles Wallace adopted because they cast a Filipino actor to play him and it wouldn't make sense to have him be the biological brother of the black actress they cast as Meg. I'm not inherently opposed to changing a character's race for a film adaptation but you've gone too far if you have to change the story to do so

[@jacksonmooney3900]

Do the Disney Nutcracker film next please

[@williamphipps936]

Dude, boring is a criminal understatement. This movie is EXCRUCIATING. It feels like you’re watching an already too slowly paced move in 0.5 times speed, it’s awful.

[@ShenaniganJian]

I remember when this flopped and Brie Larson heavily bashed the audience, in her own words: “I don’t need a 40 year old white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him in [titular Movie]. It wasn’t made for him.” And a whole bunch of other things but most people just clipped out the “40 year old white dude” part in a attempt to throw her under the bus when she appeared as Captain Marvel in both her films. As for the movie itself, I didn’t know that it was based on a Book, hence why I’d imagine most movies that do that tend to flop since they’re rather obscure or don’t address it in the marketing ads or trailers.

[@Happymali10]

9:58 To quote "Nostalgia Critic": "The only direction that actor got was punchable whimsy"

[@nbewarwe]

I remember my sister really loving the original book. We didn't talk that much, but during a drip to Disneyworld, she was excited to see the movie in our hotel. We didn't talk that much to each other, but After that when we did talk and a Wrinkle in time came up as a subject, she only ever talked about in context of how bad the movie was.

[@amberreed7704]

Storm Reid, you deserved so much more

[@JoeChillton]

She went pretty far up compared to this with Suicide Squad, Invisible Man,and Missing.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

She acted Chris Pine off the screen in their reunion scene.

[@killgoretrout877]

lol she shouldn't be allowed to act

[@Salamon2]

As a fan of the books that this movie was inspired by and I say, inspired in a very loose sense here. The film was modernizing and updating the story in an acceptable manner until halfway through the first Camazotz sequence. After the kids were done bouncing their balls. In unison, the film went off in its own direction, and while it still took some guidance from the remainder of the book, it was completely on its own. The strength of the book is in the fight for Charles Wallace's soul between It and Meg. Especially towards the end of the book and also how that fight is counterbalanced with a creepy dark Charles wallace. This film by comparison gave us a laughably bad charles wallace. He wasn't that bad as normal precocious Charles Wallace, but he couldn't do creepy Charles Wallace, and this story will live or die on how well the actor for Charles Wallace can do creepy. The made-for-tv movie version that Disney made in the 2000s, was actually closer to the story and arguably better, even with its bad cgi. Um, because it stuck quite closely to that dynamic between It, Charles Wallace, and Meg in the final scenes. This movie also tried to add a subplot with a popular girl who bullies Meg. I know what they were going for they were trying to externalize Meg's self-doubt and criticisms of herself that she has internally in the book, but it doesn't really work turning those criticisms into a paper thin bully. The externalization doesn't really work at all.

[@assassin8636]

Dang is it really that bad?

[@officialmonarchmusic]

Also, the book acknowledged the people of Camazotz as real people living under a 1984-esque totalitarian regime. The few moments of humanity, like in the boy who didn't bounce the ball correctly, the newspaper boy, and the businessman in the lobby were honestly pretty terrifying, especially when the man clearly regretted what he was doing, and just kept repeating, "I can't get sent back to It" and when you actually SEE the kid from earlier bouncing the ball in the torture cell. The movie basically implied that they are all illusions and not real

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

Alfre Woodard was much better than Reese Witherspoon as Mrs Whatsit, not only because she's a better actress but because the movie's script totally mischaracterizes Mrs Whatsit, pretty much assassinating her character. I realize that, in a film adaptation with multiethnic casting where the three ladies would logically be played by actors of different backgrounds, the filmmakers wouldn't have wanted to cast a Black actor as the least powerful one -- but couldn't they have *promoted* Woodard to Mrs Which? (I also think that Winfrey's acting skills were rusty when she made this movie -- she often comes across as though she's hosting an episode of her TV show.)

[@Caleb-pd5fr]

As someone who loves this book series, this movie is genuinely the worst thing you can do for an IP. Most of the people who I talk to today only keep the movie in mind and it makes me so mad that Le’Engle’s work was devalued so much in the modern eye because of this movie.

[@800Ms-k6n]

Giant Oprah Winfrey in this movie is a crime against humanity lol

[@ABDP]

I almost skipped this because I didn’t realise it was wrinkle of time. I’m glad I went back and watched this! Great video! I’d consider changing the thumbnail and title to push which movie this is discussing. Great video!

[@yanimobongo6752]

Unpopular opinion: this was one of my favorite movies when I was 11 years old. To me, it was the most story I could relate to. I also loved the visuals. I'm just scared that some people are going to make me hate this movie now that I'm 18.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

No one can ever make you hate a movie you love.

[@lilysflower9685]

Fr, I saw it in theaters when I was 10, I had just recently read the book about a year prior and I loved the film. I had no problems with the changes made and thought the film captured the unsettling vibe of the book, especially with the kids bouncing the balls at the identical houses. Seeing most people in the comments hate on the movie is making me wanna rewatch it tbh

[@radiocaster2k]

Everyone's got a movie like that. We loved it as kids cause we didn't know no better, and we loved it as adults cause it reminds us of that time.

[@AerynKDesigns]

Shots of Chris Pine irl still making me smile tho.

[@awkwardmonkee]

This was my favourite book growing up. So sad that they butchered the movie 😢

[@Makoto03]

The trailer for Wrinkle in Time looked awful, so I never bothered.

[@PierceTreacher-f7o]

Would the 2016 Jungle Book count as a a failed next big thing? Yes the film was a massive success, but the fact is that they announced a sequel, but we haven't heard anything about it in ages. So I assume that Disney wanted it to start a franchise, but didn't, technically making it a failed next big thing. And yes, I know Jon Faverou went on to work on the Lion King remake and all the Star Wars stuff, but still nothing was said about the sequel, other than the fact that Neel Sethi would return as Mowgli.

[@christopherfeatherley]

To be fair, the Jungle Book was a single novel by Rudyard Kipling. It wasn't a series like what was mentioned here, such as a Wrinkle in Time series (which had five books in total). Disney technically made the Jungle Book 2, but it was an original idea. Not certain it was worth expanding into live action, as it was one of those straight to VHS films Disney did. And live action movies are *expensive* to produce

[@PierceTreacher-f7o]

​@@christopherfeatherleyWell Rudyard did write the Second Jungle Book, but I still get your point.

[@christopherfeatherley]

​@@PierceTreacher-f7o Oh my bad! I had no idea he wrote a second one 😅 I had to google because I remember reading the first one. I just assumed it was the only one all these years!

[@kismete6921]

This should been a tv series. Like Percy Jackson.

[@vishaansingh1019]

The PJ show is pretentious and bland in the exact same way this movie is.

[@etexpatriate]

Another factor: the book isn't actually as popular as it's wide familiarity makes it seem. It's cultural presence was outsized because it was a standard on American school reading lists for decades as a not very subtle anti-communist allegory. More people experienced it as a chore to get through than as something they sought out willingly themselves. If there's a fandom for the series of the same kind as for other fantasy and SF series, I've never seen even a trace of it.

[@thegreenthunder5416]

I love a good Isenhart’s “Failed Next Big Thing” video. Just what I needed

[@isenhartproductions2677]

Thank you !

[@thegreenthunder5416]

@ of course! I like your content, dude! Keep up the good work!

[@jessip8654]

I remember enjoying the 2003 movie in all it's schlocky, low budget goodness. This I didn't even bother with.

[@davidmaxwell4696]

I loved the book as a kid, and even loved the cheesy movie from back in the day but this new adaptation was a trial to get through. The witches were horribly miscast. And with the increased importance and screen time they got, it was starting to feel like it was more about getting their money’s worth for hiring Oprah than in using the characters effectively to tell a good story.

[@kingdomorange2]

I think this was one of the two films I’ve ever seen in my lifetime where I got so bored that I walked out of the theater

[@RileyShaw-ry7xz]

What was the other film?

[@thehouseofoverthinking]

I'm a huge fan of these books. This movie made me angry, it was such hot garbage. The director should never work again after what she did to it. It manage to be faithful in the worst ways and different in the worst ways. The three witches were awfully miscast and even the costumes were terrible. It's like they never read the book. And Oprah, no.

[@taqiyyaconcarne6908]

It's not publicly known, but the star-studded cast likely ate up a lot of the budget.

[@kingsleaze3199]

At this point disney need to give it up

[@tomlawal7991]

Clock that tea 😂

[@gos_707]

I’m late to this video, but yeah, I remember this in theaters and just completely forgot about this

[@mikeg5039]

This book was already nonsensical trash so adapting it to film was never gonna work

[@christianhardtofind6349]

Disney has a habit of overestimating the marketability of certain franchises. That's why Chronicles of Narnia didn't work out well for them beyond the first 2 movies.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

I think the real problem there was that Prince Caspian is structurally extremely difficult to adapt, and the filmmakers failed to overcome the problem, resulting in a movie everyone hated. Before The Voyage of the Dawn Treader came out, I saw a TV listing referring to LWW as "the good Narnia movie". Harsh, but fair.

[@erikwirfs-brock2432]

A terrible movie, not that a lot of movies featured in this series aren't, that's loud and campy which made it extra annoying to watch.

[@Skaiser_Wilhelm7938]

All I remember about this film was Brie Larson calling out the critics who lambasted the film. Saying they had no right to criticise the film.

[@TreblePhoenix]

Same

[@erraticonteuse]

She did not say they had no right to criticize it. She said that media outlets should seek out different demographics of critics to review different demographics of films. That she does not care what a 60-year-old white man has to say about movies like A Wrinkle in Time when they aren't the target audience.

[@liamwhite1719]

except that's not what she said but okay lol. she said that stories told about women/by women are disproportionately overly criticized. which isn't to say this movie is amazing, but people are more critical of this movie than other "style-over-substance" films

[@MoonKent]

I will say that I found A Wrinkle in Time's teaser trailer to be one of the coolest and most compelling! I'm sad that the movie didn't live up to the hype

[@Pandie2828]

Ironically I didn't remember the "embrace your flaws" them until he mentioned it. Everytime he said theme I was thinking about the "Love isn't gone it's just hidden" thing

[@imacg5]

Dude what happened to the audio of this video? Hope everything's ok. Solid content as always.

[@isenhartproductions2677]

I recorded this video a month ago with my old microphone and never got around to posting it so that's why it sounds rough

[@vallerinagirl]

I watched this in theaters when it came out and I genuinely do not remember any of the movie at all. Seeing the clips of in this video was like watching it for the first time…

[@tracark2255]

"puts on a mask like its dazzling and introspective but in reality its very surface level and bland" wow.... that sounds like a perfect adaptation of the book!

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

As much as I disagree with this, it's a valid viewpoint.

[@onbearfeet]

I laughed out loud when you said Calvin really didn't do anything except further Meg's character arc. I haven’t seen this movie, but that sentence reminded me profoundly of the token female character in almost every kids' movie I watched growing up. It's amusing to see it gender-flipped, I suppose. Not a great trope no matter which gender is carrying it, but at least it gave you one unintentionally funny sentence.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

Indeed, Calvin's legitimate purpose in both the book and the movie is to be the love interest (and possibly also to give older boys a character with whom to identify.)

[@facusmendoza1061]

It was no surprise that this and the nutcracker and the four realms were easily overshadowed by the big phenomenon of infinity war even Christopher Robin it's one of the bestest remakes that Disney has ever done this have sealed the future of Disney in live action

[@SomeRPGFan]

I only saw this movie in the theatre because my workplace organized a screening of it for charity. Had no idea it was based on a book. My main impression of it was rhat it tried way too hard to be "whimsical" and "magical".

[@video-luver769]

I'm a big fan of the Time Quintet, and "A Wrinkle in Time" in particular, and yeah, I had zero interest to see this film because it just looked BAAAAAAD.

[@romeblanchard3419]

I remember watching this illegally and it felt like I deserve a refund

[@NotMe6044]

Wrinkle in Time has sequel books!? How did i not know!?

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

Four direct sequels and a larger number of books set in the same universe, connected in complicated and surprising ways. (In fact, almost all of L'Engle's novels are set in the same universe.)

[@BaloraSilviana_PrincessRuby]

i Just Looking' For This Move 1 Years Ago Is Been A Wild To Find It We So Happy You've Productions Find It

[@bradwolf07]

I honestly hadn't heard of it until this version was coming out. It didn't appeal to me, I wasn't the target audience. So I skipped it. And from what I heard after it came out, I made the right decision. Edit: if I remember correctly from what I was told, the main protagonist always calls her little brother by his first and middle name. Never a nickname, only first and middle name. That is just weird to me

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

That's also the case in the book, and it's such an iconic feature of the story (like Atticus Finch's kids calling him by his first name) that no adaptation could get away with changing it.

[@bradwolf07]

@anthonybernacchi2732 thank you for enlightening me; it's still weird to me

[@ko379]

i was excited to watch this movie on streaming because i loved the books. i was bored within ten minutes and turned it off.

[@DaveMan1K]

"I don't need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn't work about A Wrinkle in Time. It wasn't made for him!" - Brie Larson

[@vodafoneuser1690]

Awesome video, didn‘t even know this movie existed lol

[@sarahpoynter9652]

It’s so crazy they made this just a kid movie…cause the book…I always thought it could be for kids AND adults…

[@brotherkellymatthewbarnes8882]

"It wasn't made for him." - Brie Larson.

[@CameronMcCracken_Art]

Short answer. It flopped because even just by looking at the first poster and trailer, it was clear this film would be utter dogshit. That’s why.

[@AlbertoFolres]

One of the few movies you have reviewed that I haven't watched

[@FraHei-rv6dw]

I love your videos! Thank you for it

[@jahipalmer8782]

I think the main problem is the large budget. A movie that grosses $130M should be considered a success, but when you've spent twice that much to make it... nope. You made this point already, just seconding the motion.

[@singstreetcar5881]

Only 32 million overseas? Why? These type of bad cgi movies always do well overseas.

[@HandOn-c40009]

Because there is a lot better cgi movie at the time this movie was released? Like Black Phanter

[@masudashizue777]

Going to a theater to watch a movie was what we did when we were still pounding on manual typewriters and dancing the foxtrot. That they were able to get over a million people to leave their homes for any film is quite an achievement.

[@nyariimani7281]

I know for sure that I read this book for school growing up. And I cannot remember a single thing about it. I half watched your summary to see if any of the story would come back to me. But it didn't. I know I was just a kid, but the story itself is that underwhelming.

[@zakuraiyadesu]

Love the videos, man. Keep it up!!!

[@isenhartproductions2677]

Thank you!

[@Owen_the_animator]

Now make another failed next big thing on Disneys bfg

[@aperson5215]

Ah yes. The only film I walked out of in a cinema

[@duanein3d]

I remember being INCREDIBLY excited about this movie and very disappointed haha

[@Devious_Reviews]

The book was fine. Teacher read to us as we followed along. Her having some of us take turns to read paragraphs aloud was tolerable. When she popped in an audiocassette (yes, I'm old) in the last half to read for us, it killed the vibe. This movie was unnecessary, miscast, awful visuals... just bad all around... based on the few reviews I've seen. No, I didn't see it. I've grown weary of live-action Disney movies post-2006. This title is one of very many books which failed to translate well to a screen. Why was Oprah Winfrey cast? She's anything but an actor. Could've been anyone else.

[@dallasgrey4247]

Honestly Wrinkle In Time is a book that I think should never be adapted. It’s too symbolic and strange to be perfectly captured on film.

[@vonsowards1297]

This is a book near and near to my heart. I LOVE this story! It captured my imagination as a kid and I have read it to my kids. But this movies just did it so bad! I don’t think this book is meant for the screen (maybe an anime). The handling of Camazotz and IT was so poorly done. Camazotz was a real place with real people really being controlled by this horrifying IT. The scene in the book when they see IT is so well build, the tension, the hopelessness, horror at this brain sitting on a dais in this secret place as people basically worship it, and then she is ripped away and looses her brother and her father explaining that her is doing his best but that he is in over his head and… I could go on…. The movie turned all of this into nothing (quite literally Camazotz isn’t real in the movie) and the IT is just stupid.

[@kayden2119]

The marketing was so bad for this. Literally the only thing the trailers got across was that oprah was a main character... i think? Like thats it.

[@azl0420]

I remember going to watch it not reading the book and it was pretty lackluster by the end, it had good ideas but instead chose the most boring way to present them

[@twilightsky1580]

It's been proven time and time again to Disney and Hollywood that you can't just dump a huge amount of money into a movie and assume it's going to be successful.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

I thought the movie was okay, but man - you make over a hundred million in the box office and thanks to the budget, you lose 130 million?

[@PutotoyBibo]

I haven’t even read the book it was based on, but I don’t like this movie as well. It felt lifeless and empty the entire time.

[@hunterolaughlin]

Still waiting for someone who is a fan of this book to do justice with not only a better adaptation, but a GOOD one. I feel like the more someone is passionate about the source material, the more likely they’ll get right what the directors of the previous 2 Disney adaptations got wrong.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

I think the book (a childhood favorite of mine that shaped my taste in fiction) verges on unadaptability.

[@hunterolaughlin]

@ Don’t say that. I think it can be adapted into a film, they just need to find somebody who’s a fan of the book and passionate about the source material that can make it work. Look at the recent Dune films. Most people thought that book was unadaptable, but ever since the Dune films were released, they’ve proven many wrong that there is a way to adapt the book into the medium of film. If they can find a way to successfully adapt Dune, I’m sure there can be a way to do the same for A Wrinkle in Time.

[@BoomGiggity]

I said the same thing about The Santa Clause, which had a low budget and a really good character driven story. But in the sequel, they tripled the production budget, and it became a huge mess. Now their movies are reaching around the $350 million range and not making anything back.

[@chadcompton6915]

I completely forgot about this movie, and I saw it in theaters when it released lol. Such a shame it wasn’t better!

[@margaretgrace713]

Charles Wallace was NOT adopted in the book. The movie took away most of the heart with its inexplicable decision to make him adopted in the film. Once I was aware of that, i decided not to see it.

[@PoppyMorreale]

I think this was Oprah’s last film performance

[@erickarmandogarciagonzales2899]

Someone remember The Host

[@StephanKochs]

let's make it clear that this is the first time i've heard of this movie... What?

[@officialmonarchmusic]

It's a played out term in film criticism, but the best word to describe the film really is "boring." I've rarely ever seen an adaptation that's taken every thing, idea, moment, etc. and just made it more dull and bland. Movies are supposed to do the opposite, embellish the dramatic elements, maybe even a little too much. Suddenly, the dark and stormy night where Meg and friends unexpectedly depart the Earth and sail through space time is a clear day where everyone just casually leaves. The three eccentric old ladies are now bored-sounding middle-aged women in their thirties and forties. What hurt most about the adaptation was Camazotz. The being IT isn't supposed to represent all evil, he's just a psychological totalitarian dictator. Similarly, the people of Camazotz aren't projections or actors, they are supposed to be real people living in fear. This is where the movie should have played into the slight horror-angle of the book, part of what made it such a good cold war period piece, that being the need for strict order and rhythm and the harsh punishments that ensued for people who made mistakes. Instead, the houses and such flatten and reappear like a pop-up book, indicating that none of the people are real and the whole planet is just some kind of illusion. Also, the film actively works to remove agency from any of the characters. Charles no longer gets possessed because he's arrogant and thinks he can avoid it, he just, is. It's just, dumb. The whole concept

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

It may be that the Camazotz sequences just don't work the same way anymore in the post-Cold War era. I read the book for the first time in 1985, when I was six years old, toward the end of the Cold War. I was keenly aware that there were places on Earth much like Camazotz, and profoundly grateful that I didn't live there.

[@officialmonarchmusic]

⁠Totalitarian governments still very much exist. I think it doesn’t need to be conveyed in the exact same way necessarily, but I’d argue it will always be relevant

[@MaddieDazey]

I hated that book. They made me read it in my 4th grade gifted (smart kid) class. There was one girl in my class that was obsessed with it and she was super annoying. It was just so boring. I didn't realize at the time that we would be studying this book for a solid 6 weeks. I hated it so much.

[@perpetuasomnium8173]

I didn’t like this movie- I watched it once. However I haven’t read the book so just as a movie it was bad. I did get the book recently and I’m excited to read it Also the hair of the Mrs. are so cool in my opinion Also also, if you don’t already have a video on it, could you do one on Nutcracker & the Four Realms? That movie was such a disappointment 😢😢

[@maxacorn]

to be fair, "john carter" was a good movie. its just that disney didn't give two shits about it, didn't market it well and basically set it up to fail. which is a same since john carter laid the groundwork for space sci-fi adventurers as we know them

[@Axterix13]

I'd say it was an okay movie, not a good one. And definitely not one they should have given as big of a budget to as they did. When every studio is tossing out big budget movie after big budget movie, most are going to not do well. There just aren't enough people that go to see movies that often. So the big studios really need to learn how to make movies on a smaller budget.