While Disney topper Rich Ross and production president Sean Bailey have been beating the drum on both coasts for Tron: Legacy and Tangled, they have just solidified their next 3D event-sized family film followup to Alice in Wonderland. The studio has received a commitment from director Sam Raimi to Oz: The Great And Powerful as his next film. Raimi had become attached to Oz in June, with the hope of landing Robert Downey Jr to play the title character. At the time, Raimi was also hot and heavy into the Legendary Pictures property World of Warcraft and it became a footrace to see which Raimi would make after dropping out of a 4th Spider-Man. I’m told that Disney now expects Raimi to start production next year. Meanwhile, the studio has hired for rewrite duty David Lindsay-Abaire, who just adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole into a drama that will be Lionsgate’s Oscar hope — particularly for Nicole Kidman — following the mini-major’s acquisition of the drama at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Downey hasn’t locked in yet, but it’s looking good. He was initially lukewarm on Oz and turned down several early approaches. Downey joined the superstar club partly by making very shrewd choices like Iron Man, Tropic Thunder and the upcoming Todd Phillips-directed Due Date. The staggering billion dollar worldwide gross of Disney’s Alice In Wonderland certainly helps the argument though, and Downey has been warming as Raimi honed the movie. Lindsday-Abaire certainly classes it up. Aside from Rabbit Hole, his credits include Robots and Inkheart. More pertinent to Oz, the writer was one of the scribes who worked closely with Raimi as they tried to fix that fourth Spider-Man before Raimi threw in the towel and Sony Pictures Entertainment got started on its 3D reboot.
Disney should have the Oz field to itself, despite a number of rival projects around town based on the L. Frank Baum public domain source material. Universal Pictures is in the formative stages of turning the juggernaut hit musical Wicked into a film. And New Line and Warner Bros had a setback on their Oz picture when Guillermo del Toro turned it down to instead direct At the Mountains of Madness.
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and I’m hearing that Universal is already set on having Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel reprising their roles from Wicked (Glinda and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West respectably) and are negotiating for Lea Michele for Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East.
Here’s hoping for something better than ROBOTS and especially INKHEART.
My nephews ages 8 and 10 almost fell asleep and I was looking at the time more than once.
No Way! I know that Kirsten Dunst and Natalie Portman will play the leads in Wicked!
Wondering where you heard that as I assumed they were too old to play the leads?
I just read a great book called LESSONS FROM OZ by Julienne La Fleur.
It takes the original film and breaks down the scenes as life lessons we can all use.
The chapter about the ruby slippers is titled Never Underestimate the Power of a New Pair of Shoes.
It’s a great book based on a great movie.
Raimi has a lot to live up to.
Didn’t Raimi hate Lindsay-Abaire’s Spider-Man 4 script?
Great director!
And RDJ in this role can be what Johnny Depp *should* have been in Willy Wonka…but wasn’t.
((Also helps that people don’t equate a specific actor to the role of Oz as most adults did with Gene Wilder:Willy Wonka.))
No, Lindsay-Abaire’s script was the only one Raimi loved. He and the studio couldn’t agree on the movie they wanted to make, hence Raimi ultimately quit.
I sure hope this doesn’t mean the World of Warcraft picture will be delayed even further… I can’t wait for that movie to come out!
That movie will never get made. Get over it.
this movie should suck big time. Downey is great , but can he make up for a lousy director ? Wicked is the Oz film thats going to be the big ticket. these others are all after thoughts
GREAT TO THINK OF ROBERT DOWNEY IN ANY “OZ” REMAKE.
AS THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF HERBERT STOTHART, THE COMPOSER OF
THE SCORE FOR THE ORIGINAL, LET’S TALK, SERIOUSLY, ABOUT THE MUSIC
AS AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT FOR THE FILM. USE THE ORIGINAL
MUSIC; IT WOULD MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. PEACE, MARY
As long as Bruce Campbell is in it I’m happy!
Point #1) Sam Raimi’s best work ended long before the Spiderman trilogy, and soon after the Evil Dead trilogy.
Point #2) As much as I like Robert Downey Jr. as an actor, any sort of remake of the Wizard of Oz is short of sacreligious (even the Wicked movie is based on a book that simply rips off one of the great films in cinema-history.)
Point #3) Nobody really to waste 2 hours at a warcraft movie when the’ve spent 200-plus hours playing the game, gimme a break.
Point #4) Guillermo Del Toro to direct At the Mountains of Madness! For some reason, no good movie has ever been adapted from the works of H. P. Lovecraft, even though he is one of the most influential writers in recent history. Del Toro could be the one to do it, however. Even though I’m not a huge fan of his work, he could do faithful adaptation that is also effective and commercial. This could be the best news I’ve heard all day.
Point #5) As far as a 4th Spiderman movie is concerned, I could have done with just 1, if that. Watching a fully computer generated image without an actor even inside the suit (or even a stuntperson)…well, I have a hard time explaining why I feel that this is an offence to my senses, but it just is.
I always felt that anyone who believes that remaking a classic movie is sacrilegious is a person who doesn’t believe in progress for the future. They are already ruined a great collection of books by turning it into a movie. Might as well remake it with the technology we have today. Children today watch the classic movies that we saw as kids and see them as outdated and ridiculous. The children will now get to appreciate these classic movies and books in a way that connects with their generation. I say go for it.