“A Wrinkle in Time” director Ava DuVernay is bringing another beloved children’s fantasy tale to the screen. According to a press release, the multi-hyphenate is developing “a high-end serialized animated family television series” based on the best-selling “Wings of Fire” books with Warner Bros. Animation (WBA).
WBA “secured the exclusive rights to the sought-after publishing phenomenon for DuVernay in a highly competitive situation,” the source reveals.
From author Tui T. Sutherland, the “Wings of Fire” saga is the story of five dragonets who are destined to end the years-long war among the dragon tribes of Pyrrhia. The middle grade series includes 15 novels, three graphic novels, and four short stories. Over nine million copies are in print, and are available in 16 languages.
DuVernay is executive producing the TV project via her ARRAY Filmworks shingle. Sutherland is also among the EPs.
“Wings of Fire” will be DuVernay’s first animated project under her $100 million deal with Warner Bros. Television. Her OWN drama series, “Queen Sugar” and “Cherish the Day,” hail from Warner Horizon Scripted Television. She’s working on HBO Max/WBTV pilot “DMZ,” a dystopian comic adaptation starring Rosario Dawson, and is attached to direct Warner Bros.’ DC blockbuster “The New Gods.”
DuVernay’s jam-packed slate also includes a Netflix doc about late rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle, a TV adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Dawn” for Amazon, and a TNT series described as “a modern-day ‘Norma Rae.’” She became the first woman of color to helm a $100 million-plus live-action film with 2018’s “A Wrinkle in Time.”
The “Menagerie” trilogy and the “Avatars” trilogy are among Sutherland’s other works. She’s also written under several pseudonyms, such as Erin Hunter and Rob Kidd. Overall, she’s penned 40 books for kids and teens.
