Why is this man smiling? Oh yeah, it's the filthy, filthy lucre he's about to make.
Disney obviously hopes that lightning can strike twice, as Deadline.com is reporting that hey've hired Raimi to take on the director's chair for their upcoming Oz: The Great And Powerful, a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz film that tells the tale of how, precisely, Oz managed to find himself transported to the Emerald City. They're looking to build the film around the presence of Robert Downey, Jr. which, hey, might be alright. If there's a film that doesn't really need a sequel/prequel, it's probably The Wizard of Oz, but after Alice in Wonderland's billion-dollar performance at the box office, it wouldn't be too big of a surprise to see Disney start ramping up live-action versions of Snow White, Bambi , The Sword In The Stone, etc.
And hey, you know which movie page could use some filling-out? Go check out the task I just put in for The Wizard of Oz and get yourself some points!
They better be Silver Slippers.
haha
??? Seriously? There are forty books that they can adapt from, many of which run ongoing stories that would be PRIME for making a series of movies out of.
Personally, I'm curious what this prequel holds in terms of story. The reason I mention this is because in Marvelous Land of Oz, it shows that the Wizard ain't necessarily some great nice guy as he makes an agreement with Mombi to hide Ozma so he can be the ruler of the Emerald City. Will this be shown? Will Ozma and Mombi even play a part? Hell, how will the Witches be portrayed? Will this go into the mythos of Oz as a land, going beyond just Munchkin Country and looking into Quadling, Gillikin, and Winkie territories as well? Will the world of Oz be shown, or just the Emerald City? Will the wars and the slavery be shown? What's the map for Oz going to be based on: the original L. Frank Baum maps or the updated ones that go into the Thompson, Neill, and Snow books?
I have so many questions. The main reason I have these questions is because one thing was handled really well with Disney's recent Alice in Wonderland: building a mythos for the world. However, Oz already IS a world, almost as expansive and diverse as Middle-Earth.
I would love it...love it...LOVE IT...if someone could FINALLY do Oz justice by showing it's NOT like that stupid fucking abomination of a movie The Wizard of Oz made it out to be.
I'll be waiting on bated breath for any new information about this.
Also, I refuse to edit that Wizard of Oz page, despite having an expansive knowledge of it. I think people should forget it exists. Baum deserved FAR better treatment than that.