How ‘Incredibles 2’ Helped ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Hit $100 Million at the Box Office

By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – While Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” was enjoying a record-breaking opening weekend , another title was eyeing a milestone of its own.

“A Wrinkle in Time” jumped a surprising 1,551% at the domestic box office last weekend. Disney estimates projected the picture hit $100 million on Sunday, though final numbers on Monday came in just shy of triple-digits. Before the end of this week, Ava Duvernay’s film was able to cross the coveted mark. The fantasy adventure expanded to 88 additional locations (245 total) and picked up $1.6 million, which is considerable given that the movie opened 15 weeks ago on March 5. The previous weekend, “Wrinkle” only grossed $100,000 from 157 locations. That kind of box-office surge is not common for tentpoles at the end of their release. How did “Wrinkle” pull it off?

It turns out the movie got a helping hand from some Pixar superheroes. Disney paired “” with “” for most drive-ins, according the studio, which contributed to the box office boost. In cases where both movies played as a double feature, Disney tallied that revenue to each of the two releases, dividing the haul after the weekend. 

With another $32 million from overseas, the worldwide total stands at $132 million, though with hefty production and marketing budget of around $250 million, Disney ended up around $86 million in the red. While it didn’t fare well financially, “A Wrinkle in Time” was lauded for themes of female empowerment and diversity. It also broke barriers, as DuVernay became the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a budget over $100 million.

Adapted from Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 classic fantasy novel, “A Wrinkle in Time” boasted the star-studded cast of Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Fittingly, the sci-fi adventure about a young girl who tesseracts to find her missing dad crossed $100 million just after Father’s Day.