Here’s one that’s guaranteed to annoy purists, but with numerous Oz related projects doing the round in Hollywood, Warner has now stepped forward to try and mount a remake of the 1939 Judy Garland classic. Most of the other Oz movies, barring a CGI animated ones, are twists or reimaginings, such as Disney’s Sam Raimi directed Oz The Great And Powerful, about how the wizard came to be in the Emerald City, but now Warner wants to go back to the one everyone remembers.
Indeed Warner itself has had a couple of different Oz projects in the works, but now, according to Deadline, in in negotiations with Robert Zemeckis to direct a remake , which will even go as far as to use the original script (Warner owns the 1939 movie because despite originally being made by MGM, Ted Turner got hold of most of the old MGM catalogue in the mid 80s, which then became part of Warner Bros, when they bought Turner’s empire).
If Zemeckis does come aboard, it may involve some schedule juggling, as he’s currently working on a remake of Yellow Submarine, which is supposed to be finished in time for the 2012 London Olympics. He was then meant to be going to return to live action for the first time in over a decade with Timeless, but Wizard Of Oz is likely to take precedence over that movie if he does come onboard.