With “Alice In Wonderland” turning over a billion dollars, it seems every studio in town is now in the race to bring fables and classic stories to the big screen. Disney has their Rapunzel tale, “Tangled,” set to hit theaters soon and they’ve got the Sam Raimi-directed “Oz: The Great And Powerful” getting ready to begin production next year. Meanwhile over at Warner Bros., they dropped the trailer for their new version of “Red Riding Hood” and they’ve dusted off one of the most celebrated classic titles in their catalog and are preparing it for a reboot.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. are in early talks with Robert Zemeckis to remake “The Wizard Of Oz” using the 1939 script for the film. Zemeckis is an interesting, though also totally boring, choice and given that he’s set to direct “The Yellow Submarine” early next year, it appears that any involvement would have to come once his commitment to that project is finished.
But, really, does “The Wizard Of Oz” need to be remade? Warner Bros. has poured all kinds of money into restoring the film over and over (most recently for its highly acclaimed BluRay release) and the film is beloved by generations of families and film lovers. The thought of Zemeckis mo-capping the shit out of it into some kind of 3D CGI spectacle makes us ill. Again, these are early talks so anything can happen. Here’s hoping “The Yellow Submarine” and the potential time travel flick “Timeless” keep his attention away from manhandling “The Wizard Of Oz” and let’s see if Warner Bros. can come to their senses and stop this terrible idea.