As promised, here is the gorgeous/exciting/etc./etc. first teaser trailer for Walt Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time. The rather exciting adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle’s 1962 novel stars Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Chris Pine (among others), with a screenplay from Jennifer Lee (co-director of Frozen) and with Ava DuVernay (Selma, The 13th, Middle of Nowhere) at the directorial helm.
You don’t need me to explain why someone who looks like DuVernay getting over $100 million to make a big fantasy movie starring folks who look like Reid and Kaling (and the rest) is a big deal, but rest assured if all of us talking incessantly about gender parity and onscreen/offscreen inclusivity don’t do our part to turn this one into a reasonably-sized hit, none of us every get to complain about this stuff ever again.
The good news is that there is good reason to hope/expect this one to kick a little box office ass when it opens on March 9th of next year. First, that’s the unofficial spring kick-off slot that has seen the likes of 300, Alice in Wonderland, Zootopia and Logan (among others) posting big debuts for big pre-summer global totals.
Second, it is a big-budget Walt Disney live-action fantasy, and even if it doesn’t quite fit into their “live action fairy tale” designation, it’s still going to be something of an event film for fans of the novel and for those who want big movies starring folks like Reid and helmed by the likes of DuVernay.
Third, perhaps most importantly, it’s Walt Disney’s second 2018 release. That means it’s the first Disney flick after Lucasfilms’ Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Marvel’s Black Panther.
Why does that matter? Well, tons and tons of folks from all demographic walks of life are going to stroll into a movie theater in mid-December up until whenever The Last Jedi leaves theaters. Ditto Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther in mid-February. And anyone want to guess what every single moviegoer will get to see prior to that “A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away” text and/or Marvel Cinematic Universe logo?
Yup, they will almost certainly see the theatrical trailer, be it this one or a second preview, for A Wrinkle in Time. You’ve heard this song before, but sometimes the very best bit of marketing is having a great trailer attached to a hit movie that plays to demo-friendly audiences. You’ve got a captive audience, one friendly to the film being advertised, now all you got to do is deliver the goods.
Just a few months ago, the terrific Get Out trailer got a boost a month prior to release when M. Night Shyamalan’s Split massively overperformed. And Lights Out got an expected boost via having its trailer attached to The Conjuring 2. Sometimes this becomes a pattern. Furious 7 plugged Straight Outta Compton, Jurassic World plugged Minions and Minions dropped a killer teaser for The Secret Life of Pets.
Oh, and the second terrific trailer for Sing was attached to The Secret Life of Pets, so all $368 million-worth of moviegoers got the best possible marketing for the movie. Going back a bit, I think you can partially credit Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’s $200m+ success in 2010 to having its cryptic, moody teaser (with a roll call of famous folks who would show up) playing in front of Avatar.
Obviously, this is not foolproof. A great Fantastic Four teaser trailer attached to Kingsman: The Secret Service couldn’t overcome lousier trailers and awful buzz/reviews for that summer 2015 release. And sometimes the opposite can happen, as when Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. exposes millions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I moviegoers to a terrible first teaser for Green Lantern.
But assuming that A) A Wrinkle in Time will be good and B) the Wrinkle in Time trailers will be good, the best marketing card they’ve got are The Last Jedi and Black Panther. In those two Disney releases, A Wrinkle in Time couldn’t ask for a more sympathetic and more demographically-friendly group of would-be moviegoers. Considering it getting by with a little help from their friends.
All they got to do is not blow it. And so far mission: accomplished.
