Wizard Of Oz Remake By The Man Behind Spawn

[Y 2 Jake]

As if the Wheelers weren't scary enough, Warner Bros and producer Todd McFarlane want to take us all back to Oz again - and this time it ain't all going to be ruby slippers and singing scarecrows.

The pitch for this take on Frank L. Baum's classic series of books is to make things a little darker (although the writer, A History of Violence's Josh Olson, says he's thinking "Harry Potter dark, not Seven dark"), without so many singing Munchkins. McFarlane is describing this as a "dark, edgy, muscular PG -13", although Olson is arguing for a slightly tamer PG and says it's more of a sequel than a remake.

McFarlane, for those of you struggling to figure out why you know his name, is the producer and writer behind Spawn, but don't lets hold that against him. After all, he's a talented comic-book artist and...well, everyone deserves a second chance. He's had an interest in Oz for ages, having brought out a rather twisted toy range several years ago with a busty Dorothy and an enormous, snarling Toto. Er. Let's not hold that against him either, eh?

Olson, in any case, has said he has no interest in portraying Dorothy as a "bondage queen", which is nice, and cited the wealth of characters and imagination on offer in the 15 Oz books as the thing he's focusing on. McFarlane, meanwhile, wants to get The Lord of the Rings' audience to come see this, by giving it a "2007 wow factor". "You’ve still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she’s much closer to the Ripley from ‘Alien’ than a helpless singing girl," he says. Ripley? Er. OK.

Olson says that his approach is largely to create his own plot, but using Baum's characters - and for all the worrying disagreement that seems to be bubbling under between writer and producer, this could be a good thing. After all, The Wizard of Oz may be one of the best, and best-loved, films ever made, but it is itself a remake, so we can't hold this project's somewhat dubious start against it - can we? And scary-ass Wheelers or not, everyone kinda loves Return To Oz in a 1980s, Fairuza Balk kinda way. Right?
Helen O'Hara

Sounds intresting. I'm a fan of the original so I'll certainly go and see this. Hopefully they just make it an all out adult film. Then again I say that about everything, even Baby's Day Out.

 

[X]

This does sound quite intriguing. I remember acting in the play when I was a child, and of course seeing the movie 20,000 times every Christmas/Thanksgiving. Not to mention those god damn flying monkeys....dear god they haunted my dreams.

But with Todd McFarlane behind the wheel, you can be rest assured that even if the writing sucks (which it probably will) you will be very entertained by the dark and disturbing images that McFarlane is so good at creating.

I mean that was the only reason I watched Spawn. Had to be one of the absolute worst pieces of garbage to ever be released, ever. The only thing I enjoyed was the cinematography and art directing, which undoubtedly was influenced by McFarlane.

I'm willing to bet big money though that this project will never go through.

 

[triple m]

I'd like to see it. Even though Spawn was a piece of trash. I Hated history of violence, It was slow and key plot points kinda of happened without build up.
I can't really explain it. I was just unhappy with it as a whole. But OZ Mcfaraland remake? If it's Dark and violent enough(not overly) it could be a moneymaker

 

[Uncle Sam]

Dorothy is more like Ripley? Fuck it, throw in a few Aliens and you've got Oz vs. Aliens. Five star potential!

 

[X]

...Do you guys even know who Todd McFarlane is? He had absolutely nothing to do with the movie A History of Violence and nothing to do with any of the Aliens films.

 

[Uncle Sam]

They said Dorothy was going to be like Ripley from Aliens and that some other guy had done A History Of Violence. Todd McFarlane is the founder of Image Comics and the creator of the Spawn franchise.

 

[bbay]

actaully he is one of the founders not thee founder, you need to look it up and spawn wasnt that bad, well at least the cartoon wasnt