FROZEN Director to Re-Team with Disney for 'A Wrinkle in Time' Big Screen Adaptation

Variety reports that Jennifer Lee, who recently co-wrote and helmed the Disney mega-hit FROZEN, has signed on to adapt Madeleine L'Engle's classic children's novel "A Wrinkle in Time" to the big screen for the studio. No director is currently attached to the project. Lee also co-wrote Disney's "Wreck-It Ralph."

Jim Whitaker will produce along with Catherine Hand. Whitaker's most recently produced Disney's "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" and was behind "American Gangster" and "Robin Hood." Hand produced a "Wrinkle in Time" TV movie for ABC that aired in 2003.

First published in 1962, 'A Wrinkle in Time' centers on a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has Gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. It is the first in L'Engle's series of books about the Murry and O'Keefe families that also includes "A Wind in the Door," "Many Waters," and "A Swiftly Tilting Planet."

Published in 1962, "Wrinkle in Time" was one of Lee's favorite novels as a child, and she impressed Disney executives with her take on the project, which emphasizes a strong female-driven narrative and creatively approaches the science fiction and world-building elements of the book.

While Lee adapts "A Wrinkle in Time," she will continue in her role as part of Walt Disney Animation's story trust and remain active in projects in development at the division that scored with "Frozen" - its biggest hit ever at the box office with nearly $1.3 billion - and has "Big Hero 6," based on a Marvel property, out Nov. 7.

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