Yesterday the internet collectively groaned when reports surfaced that Robert Zemeckis, the king of dead-eye CGI, was in talks to direct a remake of “The Wizard Of Oz” for Warner Bros. based on the original script for the 1939 film. Thankfully cooler heads have prevailed and the film is still just a bad idea on a producer’s desk. For now.
The Wrap has waved their magic wand over their Rolodex and learned that Zemeckis will not be taking the gig, and will focus on his gestating “The Yellow Submarine.” A rep for the director calls the reports “completely untrue” while Deadline, which broke the story, is probably yelling at somebody right now for feeding them bogus news.
But undoubtedly this is probably a project sitting somewhere at Warner Bros. and don’t be surprised if this terrible idea gets presented to other directors. Hey Warner Bros., maybe instead of doing this you can get back to figuring out how to get Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Gravity” in front of cameras? And while we’re at it, what’s up with your home video division recently cropping the shit out out of old Looney Tunes cartoons to make them widescreen for the latest DVD releases? C’mon guys….