Ava DuVernay and Disney to bring fantasy novel A Wrinkle In Time to the big screen

Ava DuVernay, director of the acclaimed US historical film drama Selma, is set to direct an upcoming Disney adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's 1963 children's fantasy novel A Wrinkle In Time. The filmmaker will be developing the project from a script penned by Oscar-winning Frozen writer and co-director Jennifer Lee, according to Hollywood entertainment site deadline.com.

Over the past few months, DuVernay has been courted by two studios, having reportedly also been offered the opportunity to direct upcoming sci-fi drama film Intelligent Life, starring Lupita Nyong'o, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment production house.

While it appears she's now on board to direct the first project, she will also be gearing up for the latter, too. However it's unconfirmed as to which movie the 43-year-old will tackle first.

A Wrinkle In Time revolves around a teenage girl named Meg Murry whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. Meg enlists the help of her genius brother Charles and her classmate Calvin to help her investigate what happened. But as the children learn more, they find themselves travelling through space and time to a planet called Camazotz, ruled by a giant evil brain called The Black Thing.

DuVernay and Lee's version won't be the first Disney take on the story. In 2003, the studio released a TV movie based on the same novel. Accepting the deal marks a significant career move for DuVernay, who last year turned down Marvel's offer to direct its upcoming film surrounding comic book superhero, the Black Panther.

While she said she couldn't imagine herself slotting into the studio's already established style, with Disney's backing on this new movie, she'll likely have much more creative freedom.

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