Walking out of Tim Burton’s dismal Alice in Wonderland I thought to myself that this vision of a fantasy world would work much better in L Frank Baum’s Oz universe. And apparently Warner Bros feels the same way, as they have not one but two Oz projects in the works.
Both of these films have been slowly gestating for a while; I heard about a Josh (A History of Violence) Olson-penned version quite some time ago. But Alice doing
amazing business has breathed life into both of them. The Olson one
sounds really horrible – it’s got Dorothy Gale’s granddaughter going to
Oz and fighting evil, and it has Todd McFarlane – dipshit between the
awful Twisted Land of Oz action figure line – involved in some capacity. The other is vaguer and is just called Oz. That has a script from the Shrek Forever After writer.
We’ve been back to Oz before – Return to Oz tanked
in the 80s, and there was a cartoon sequel in the decade before that.
I’m actually shocked that Baum’s expansive world hasn’t been on screen
more often, and that the original book has been tackled more. The
classic Wizard of Oz took lots of liberties, and a new version could be quite different from Judy Garland and company.
While The Wizard of Oz is
one of my favorite movies of all time I’m not against a
reboot/remake/sequel/whatever. There’s rich ground to cover… as long
as you don’t make Dorothy a fucking dominatrix. That said, Alice‘s box office makes me think we’re in for one dark Oz movie. Walter Murch was ahead of his time.
17 comments
Todd McFarlane's a dipshit? That's a fairly assholish thing to say. I met the guy last year and he was a lovely and friendly guy.
So? I've met plenty of dipshits who were lovely and friendly people. Makes them lovely and friendly dipshits. What was the recent Sci Fi channel version- Tin Man? I'll take anybody's word on it, starting with terrible? Do I hear misguided? Gentleman in the back with insidpid? Anyone else?
"dipshit between the awful Twisted Land of Oz action figure line" – behind, surely? When leveling accusations of dipshittery, it's best to ensure that one does not come off as one in the process.
Fat chance there, Catnip. No pun intended.
To be fair to Devin, those Twisted Land of Oz toys look really retarded. Oooo, it's so dark and evil. Dumb.
Yeah, but that Dorothy figure is really hot, though!
Devin is the worst writer on the internet. Nuff said.
But he IS a dipshit.
I'll only go see this if they cast Beecher as Dorothy, Said as the Cowardly Lion, Schillinger as the Tin Man, and Keller as the Scarecrow….
As long as it was better than that horrible abortion that was Muppets from Oz. Goddamn!
What about that animated John Boorman version that's supposedly in the works? I haven't heard anything about it in a while. The pre-production artwork that hit the Internet a while back looked pretty cool.
Return to OZ is a better movie than Wizard of OZ. There. I said it.
from what i heard olsen denied mcfarlene's involvement in his script. apparently spawny-guy tried getting his twisted oz figures a treatment in hollywood, and misattributed olsen as being involved. which made olsen super-pissed, as he said his scriptment was a PG film aimed at kids, completely different from Mcfarlene's take.
Return to Oz was a nice adaption of third book, Ozma of Oz. I think the second book about Tip would make a great movie.
Ok, Return to Oz is great, but in no way is it better than The Wizard of Oz!!! Come on now, your just trying cause a shit storm on the wall.
Would everyone please stop mentioning anything Tim Burton and Oz in the same article? The last thing we need is for him to get any bright ideas. I would be so pissed off if he tried doing it.
Obviously BAY is the name that needs to be mentioned in the same sentence as "Oz". BAM! The house land on the Witch. KA-BOOM!! The Scarecrow falls off his hitchpost. BANG! BANG! BANG! the living trees fire apples at Dorothy! Can't ya just see it now? yes, it's sarcasm, friends. Chill.
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