New Hollywood remake of 'Wizard of Oz' is in the works

By Lisa Richwine

 

A first edition of Frank L. Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" sits on display at Christie's auction house in New York, December 12, 2006. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood is preparing to take another trip down the yellow brick road with a remake of classic movie "The Wizard of Oz," one of the most celebrated films of all time.

 

New Line Cinema, a unit of AT&T Inc's Warner Bros studio, said on Tuesday it was developing a fresh take on the story of Dorothy and her visit to the Land of Oz that was detailed in L. Frank Baum's children's book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," which was published in 1900.

 

Nicole Kassell, an executive director and producer of HBO's Emmy-winning "Watchmen" series, will direct the new movie, the studio said.

 

"The opportunity to examine the original themes - the quest for courage, love, wisdom and home - feels more timely and urgent than ever," Kassell said in a statement. "These are profoundly iconic shoes to fill, and I am eager to dance alongside these heroes of my childhood as we pave a newly minted yellow brick road!"

 

Few details were provided, but the new movie will not be a musical. The original 1939 film starring Judy Garland featured the song "Over the Rainbow," which won an Academy Award for best original song. The film lost the best picture trophy that year to "Gone with the Wind."

 

Since then, there have been several remakes and spinoffs, including long-running Broadway hit "Wicked" and 2013 Disney film "Oz the Great and Powerful" starring James Franco.

 

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-10

 

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1 minute ago, webfact said:

Since then, there have been several remakes and spinoffs

Yes, because that's exactly what the worlds needs. More of the same old stories re-hashed again and again and again.

4 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Yes, because that's exactly what the worlds needs. More of the same old stories re-hashed again and again and again.

 

I have Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespere all holding on Line 1.

 

Ms. Kassell's take on The Watchmen was BRILLIANT. Think she can handle Oz.

 

Why such a bitter take? Maybe wait to see it first?

 

 

3 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

I have Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespere all holding on Line 1.

 

Ms. Kassell's take on The Watchmen was BRILLIANT. Think she can handle Oz.

 

Why such a bitter take? Maybe wait to see it first?

 

 

 

Hope its a bit better than The Watchman,  My wife loved it I hated it

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

New Hollywood remake of 'Wizard of Oz' is in the works

Oh, how original! ???? Are they totally devoid of fresh ideas?

2 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Why such a bitter take? Maybe wait to see it first?

Let's look at some classic remakes that were awful:

 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Ghost Busters

Robocop

The Wicker Man

The Italian Job

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Mulan

Total Recall

Aladdin

Dumbo

Beauty & the Beast

The Mummy

27 minutes ago, webfact said:

The opportunity to examine the original themes

that's Hollywood code for "Woke".

26 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Yes, because that's exactly what the worlds needs. More of the same old stories re-hashed again and again and again.

If it aint broken why "fix it"?

17 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Let's look at some classic remakes that were awful:

 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Ghost Busters

Robocop

The Wicker Man

The Italian Job

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Mulan

Total Recall

Aladdin

Dumbo

Beauty & the Beast

The Mummy

 

I only see 3 classics on that list, the rest were poor to mediocre.

23 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Let's look at some classic remakes that were awful:

 

Ghost Busters

 

Good one.

 

Who ya gonna call?

 

Someone with taste?

 

 

34 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Oh, how original! ???? Are they totally devoid of fresh ideas?

 

I'm sure you would have been along to criticize Rama I and Rama II for re-imagining the original Sanskrit Ramayana epic story.

 

 

1 minute ago, mtls2005 said:

 

I'm sure you would have been along to criticize Rama I and Rama II for re-imagining the original Sanskrit Ramayana epic story.

 

 

It's against the law to talk about them!

37 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Let's look at some classic remakes that were awful:

 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Ghost Busters

Robocop

The Wicker Man

The Italian Job

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Mulan

Total Recall

Aladdin

Dumbo

Beauty & the Beast

The Mummy

 

Did you waste your money on ALL of them???

17 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Good one.

 

Who ya gonna call?

 

Someone with taste?

 

 

 

 

Off topic post and a reply have been removed.

Will you please keep Trump out of threads that have nothing to do with him.

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Good one.

 

Who ya gonna call?

 

Someone with taste?

 

 

No... I'm gonna call my mum.

Stop bullying me. (this is 2021 after all...)????????

I won't be paying money to see it, nor wasting my time. I'll find a good Jeffery Archer book to read.

Oz has been remade in film & TV dozens of time. The Judy Garland film is everybody's favourite movie. If they try to update & modernise Oz, and take out its wholesome message--home, friendship, heart, brains & courage--they'll ruin it.

9 hours ago, Rimmer said:

 

Hope its a bit better than The Watchman,  My wife loved it I hated it

Was that the story of Prawit and his watches?

The bigger question is will they use munchkins and flying monkeys in the remake.  

Trivia question for the 1939 movie version:

 

Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West, a character that frightened little children.  What was Hamilton's other profession?

 

A kindergarten teacher...really!  I bet you didn't want to get "in trouble" in that class.  ????    

 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002121/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

 

 

That's what we need. another version of the Wizard of OZ

"How many versions of Wizard of Oz are there?
50
35 The 1939 film was the 10th screen adaptation of the book. Now there are over 50 movie adaptations of the original story. To think that L. Frank Baum was only paid $75,000 for the rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!Oct 5, 2020 "

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g2715/wizard-of-oz-surprising-trivia/

Awful  movie don't  know why it's raved  over.

On 2/10/2021 at 10:51 AM, ChakaKhan said:

If it aint broken why "fix it"?

Not enough minority groups or LGBTs in the original. 

Although they did use lots of midgets which should have covered the minority groups.

Edited February 11, 20215 yr by BritManToo

On 2/10/2021 at 4:46 PM, 2530Ubon said:

Let's look at some classic remakes that were awful:

 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Ghost Busters

Robocop

The Wicker Man

The Italian Job

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Mulan

Total Recall

Aladdin

Dumbo

Beauty & the Beast

The Mummy

Disagree about Beauty and the Beast, but that is only because Watson was the heroine and I wasn't paying much attention to all the PC BS that was going on.

She could make a movie that consisted of 90 minutes of her reading a phone book and I'd pay to see it.

 

Ghost Busters remake was pants because they made it with unpleasant women. Had Watson been in it I'd have enjoyed it.

I unfortunately watched the new TMNT in Penang when I was on a visa run- never again. Haven't seen the live actors Mulan ( it's not really a remake as the first was animated ) but I'll take your word for it- I didn't like the animated version. Aladdin was OK though. Didn't see Dumbo as I saw the trailer.

Agree that The Mummy with Cruise was pants- what the h*** was he thinking?

 

Not on your list, though absolutely pants, was Mary Poppins.

 

The Mel Gibson remake of Edge of Darkness was not great, though the original 6 part tv series released in 1985 was one of the best political thrillers I've ever seen ( I just watched it again on DVD and it's an excellent way to spend 3 hours )

 

Some remakes are quite good though- International Velvet was fine, if not an exact remake of National Velvet- I liked the new version better.

 

The 39 steps has been remade at least 3 times, and the versions I've seen were OK.

 

I'm waiting till they remake The Sound of Music, with an all inclusive PC cast. I won't be paying to see it though.

 

It's amazing what they cut from movies now. I watched the BBC edition of The Fall of the Roman Empire recently and they cut the scene where the two leading characters go to the slave pens to select their companions for the night, though they still include a scene where it's obvious that the women are slaves.

 

Seems to me that a lot of new movies are so constricted by PC that they don't stand a chance of being great. Shadow in the clouds was ghastly and completely unbelievable, despite the luvvies liking it.

 

 

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Not enough minority groups or LGBTs in the original. 

Although they did use lots of midgets which should have covered the minority groups.

I have been reliably informed that Dorothy is being played by a lady of colour in a wheelchair who was born a man but has now transitioned, however there will be no people of lesser hight( midgets is not a word we use these days) as it degenerated them in the original.

 

Another reboot that will probably fall flat on its face. 
Time will tell.

Interesting that a media which sells fantasy and a suspension of disbelief is skewered for selling fantasy and suspension of disbelief which isn't aligned with some peeps political leanings.

 

There is plenty for Atlas Shrugged and Citizen Cane types to watch out there.

 

Why get your panties in a bunch? Just stay in the bubble and only watch soothing, old-timey, non-inclusive stuff. No one else cares.

M Night Shyamalan to direct

13 hours ago, mikebike said:

Interesting that a media which sells fantasy and a suspension of disbelief is skewered for selling fantasy and suspension of disbelief which isn't aligned with some peeps political leanings.

 

There is plenty for Atlas Shrugged and Citizen Cane types to watch out there.

 

Why get your panties in a bunch? Just stay in the bubble and only watch soothing, old-timey, non-inclusive stuff. No one else cares.

LOL. Some of us don't like paying to have other people's woke PC agenda forced on us. There used to be a term for people of colour put into the cast just so a person of colour would be in the movie or tv show, but it's no longer polite to use it.