Warner Bros. Plans Wizard of Oz Remake

[Octoberist]

I'm kinda glad that Robert Zemeckis isn't doing it.

And yes, I agree: Why remake the original if you can just...adapt the book(s) instead and give us a new take? Return to Oz style.

 

[ALP]

Wicked is in the works which is fine. Boorman is also making an animated version of Oz and Disney is doing the Wizard prequel. Now this? How many Wizard of Oz films do we need?

Not to mention if Zemeckis is doing this(in his odious mo-cap) then isn't it automatically rather useless considering there's already a CG version in the works? Anyway, another proper adaptation would be fine but if there's a full on remake with ruby slippers and all of the songs then it's a load of dung.

 

[Octoberist]

honestly, can't they get away from the 'Wizard of Oz' storyline and do another story from the books?

Return to Oz has been the only one that has done that.

 

[ALP]

Agreed, it's ridiculous. If I recall correctly, Baum made nearly a dozen Oz books if not more. Yet they keep doing "Wizard."

The latest report on slashfilm actually says they're going to use the exact same script from 1939...

 

[jmc]

Ok, all this Oz stuff is starting to tick me off. Why aren't studios seeing the potential here? The potential to make an Oz movie that's FAITHFUL to the original book? Instead of remaking some script for a 71 year old movie, they SHOULD be looking at the book. There's so much potential. Heck, they could even make sequels that adapt the stories from the later books.

Agreed, the books are a wealth of possibilities.

 

[Apollo]

They should make this a sequel instead.. and have dorty come back in her 30's... and have tim burton direct it...with johnny depp as the tin man, who would be 10 times bigger on the poster than dorty... and Helena carter as the witch...

it'll make a billion dollars at the box office but no one would like it...

 

[Darkness Falls]

They should make this a sequel instead.. and have dorty come back in her 30's... and have tim burton direct it...with johnny depp as the tin man, who would be 10 times bigger on the poster than dorty... and Helena carter as the witch...

it'll make a billion dollars at the box office but no one would like it...

i see what you did there
i liked alice in wonderland ....well most of it

 

[LOBO3315a]

Let me say here that I am a big fan of both the movie and the books. Each has their own appeal, and while they share some similar traits and characters the stories are different.

That being said, they should not remake the movie, but follow the storyline of the book. Oz was a wild and wooly place in the books. No one broke out into song, end there were plenty of villans (The Nome King and Mombi come to mind) for several movies. They did it with Harry Potter, why can't they do it with Dorothy Gale?

Return to Oz has to be one of the most underrated movies ever made. It was a whole lot closer to Baum's stories than the musical.

And I couldn't read Wicked. Just couldn't hold my attention. I did like the play, though.

 

[Octoberist]

Return to Oz is so underrated, that it makes me sad.

 

[GoldGoblin]

Why not put a horror spin on it and make:

-The Tin Man a terminator type character.
-The Cowardly Lion into a werelion (half man/half lion).
-The Scarecrow into a serial killer.

And have Dorothy have a group of friends who go to OZ with her trying to find their way home with those creatures after them.

 

[Majik1387]

Because that would be stupid.

 

[Sawyer]

Seconded.

 

[ALP]

Yeah and remaking the film with the same script from the 1930s is just as unnecessary and ridiculous but apparently that is what they are doing.

 

[Darkness Falls]

Yeah and remaking the film with the same script from the 1930s is just as unnecessary and ridiculous but apparently that is what they are doing.

why don't they just rerelease the old one in cinemas
what a waste of money if thats what they are doing

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Why not put a horror spin on it and make:

-The Tin Man a terminator type character.
-The Cowardly Lion into a werelion (half man/half lion).
-The Scarecrow into a serial killer.

And have Dorothy have a group of friends who go to OZ with her trying to find their way home with those creatures after them.

This...these...these Ideas...this is a joke, right?

 

[LOBO3315a]

Why not put a horror spin on it and make:

-The Tin Man a terminator type character.
-The Cowardly Lion into a werelion (half man/half lion).
-The Scarecrow into a serial killer.

And have Dorothy have a group of friends who go to OZ with her trying to find their way home with those creatures after them.

Because not only would that be a raping of Baum's story, it would never work. Those 3 characters were her friends. In the book, they helped her overcome obstacles through their very nature. In the movie, they helped show her what she had been looking for, she had all ready had all along. Turning them into slasher flick rip offs would do nothing for a remake.

Make a movie that follows the original books. Making another musical just isn't a very good idea. Turn it into a female Harry Potter franchise.

 

[Majik1387]

I don't see why it has to be a female Harry Potter.

 

[LOBO3315a]

You don't see the correlation between Dorothy and Harry? Both are people taken out of the mundane world, put into a world of magic, sorcery, fantastical creatures. Both are very clever.

The only real difference is that Harry is a wizard, while Dorothy is just a regular girl from Kansas.

Setting all that to the side, I meant that if that can take a series of books that were written in the past 10 years, and devote a series of 8 movies to it, why can't they do the same for Oz? It has more books, and the stories are just as good, if not better that what Rowling wrote.

 

[sideburnking]

The ONLY justification for remaking this would be to make it closer to the book and use it as the starting point for an adaption of the original Baum series. To do a shot for shot remake of the MGM Original is insane. You are NOT replacing Judy Garland in a musical version of the Wizard of Oz (the Wiz is a different reimagining) and getting anyone to buy into it.

Now they do a non-musical version, darker, closer to the books, Dorothy having her John R. Neill visual, etc...that would be legitimate.

There is a ton of crazy stuff in Baum's books, plenty to fill a series of movies with great concepts and visuals.

Good point. It's similar to why (Prepares to dodge heavy objects thrown at my head by other users) I supported and continue to enjoy Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Because it was done to be closer to the source material, and in the case of Oz, there's all kinds of weird stuff in the sequels that could make for memorable films.
A remake for any other reason could be too horrible for words.

 

[Majik1387]

^Yeah, except Dorothy is only in like 5 of the 14 book series; Not counting Ruth Plumly Thompsons' stories that followed.

 

[LOBO3315a]

I guess you are focusing on the Harry Potter/Dorothy Gale character comparisons, and that was not my intent.

I mean the comparisons of the movie franchises. If you can do it for 1 set of books, (Harry Potter), why not the other (Land of Oz)?

 

[Majik1387]

I've said earlier that WB is most likely looking at this to be their new HP movie series.

 

[LOBO3315a]

Guess I missed that part...

"Pay no attention to that man making the irrational posts!!!! The Great and Powerful OZ has SPOKEN!!!!"

 

[dark_b]

isnt RDJ playing the wizard in a different movie?

 

[ALP]

Because not only would that be a raping of Baum's story, it would never work. Those 3 characters were her friends. In the book, they helped her overcome obstacles through their very nature. In the movie, they helped show her what she had been looking for, she had all ready had all along. Turning them into slasher flick rip offs would do nothing for a remake.

Make a movie that follows the original books. Making another musical just isn't a very good idea. Turn it into a female Harry Potter franchise.

Good thing that never discouraged Tim Burton from making an abomination of Lewis Carroll's masterpieces.