William Wheeler has written screenplays for six produced motion pictures. His filmography includes the 2016 Disney release QUEEN OF KATWE starring David Oyelowo and Lupita N'yongo, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST directed by Mira Nair and starring Rizwan Ahmed, and THE HOAX directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Richard Gere, Alfred Molina and Hope Davis. The Reluctant Fundamentalist was the Opening Night Selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2012. QUEEN OF KATWE was runner-up for the People's Choice award at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival and won four NAACP Image Awards. For his work on Katwe, Bill was the recipient of the Christopher Award for feature film in 2016. He additionally was co-writer of screenplays for both GHOST IN THE SHELL starring Scarlett Johansson and the family comedy LEGO NINJAGO. Currently, Bill is adapting WHITE NIGHT based on Deborah Layton's memoir about her time in the People's Temple. WHITE NIGHT will be directed by Anne Sewitsky and released by Film Nation in 2020. Next, he will create an original limited series with director Jodie Foster based on the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. In television, Bill has worked as a consulting producer on Showtime's "Ray Donovan" and Netflix's upcoming drama "Cursed". Bill has mentored filmmakers from around the globe through the Sundance Institute's Feature Film Lab in Utah and the Maisha Film Lab in Kampala, Uganda. He has advised at Sundance International Labs in Jordan, Turkey, Japan and Greece and served as artistic director of Sundance's 2013 Lab in Mumbai, India.
Read moreShow less
Biography from IMDb.
- November 20, 1967 (58)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Writer and producer
- 9 on MovieCove · 12 credits in all
What are William Wheeler's films like?
Across their 6 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Morality.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 5
A split, not a type: Light 3 · Serious 1 · Dark 2
A split, not a type: Grounded 4 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 2
Gentle 2 · Charged 3 · Intense 1
A split, not a type: Steady 3 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 4 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 1
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 0
A split, not a type: Casual 3 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 2
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 1
A split, not a type: Resolved 3 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 2
Moods and endings
- Happy3
- Bittersweet1
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch William Wheeler's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 5 of their 9 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Disney+ (3).
Subscription and free streaming for William Wheeler's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
12 credits, 9 with a MovieCove page.
Cursed(2020)
Midcredits score: 21st percentile of all shows
The Lego Ninjago Movie(2017)
Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films
Ghost in the Shell(2017)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
Queen of Katwe(2016)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Ray Donovan(2013)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films
The Cape(2011)
Midcredits score: 10th percentile of all shows
The Hoax(2006)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
Empire (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
The Prime Gig(2000)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all filmsUntitled Conspiracy Thriller Film (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
White Night (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 12 titles, 10 of them dated from 2001 to 2020.
Biggest box office
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Highest rated
Queen of Katwe (2016)
Most popular right now
The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do William Wheeler's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 59th percentile, the median of all 6; across their 6 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 60th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th3
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 9 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Crowd Pleaser4
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the dialogue 58/100 and the plot and story 50/100 in their films, across 6 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is William Wheeler's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 4 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does William Wheeler work with?
People who share at least 2 of William Wheeler's MovieCove titles; Mira Nair shares the most, 2.
- Mira NairShared titles: Queen of Katwe (2016), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Mira Nair
- Lydia Dean PilcherShared titles: Queen of Katwe (2016), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Lydia Dean Pilcher
