You’d think that with a CGI animated Oz movie in the works, plus live action films including Disney’s Great & Powerful Oz and a movie version of the musical Wicked in the works, that would be enough journeys down the Yellow Brick Road to be going on with, but now there’s another which has just been announced. This time it’s a CG/stop-motion mix, to be helmed by Mike Johnson, who was Tim Burton’s co-director on Corpse Bride.
John Williams, President and CEO of Vanguard Films, which is backing the film, commented, “Mike Johnson is a spectacular director and one of the masters of stop-motion. We all think Oz Wars is a wildly original and commercial project that will thrill and astonish audiences. Additionally, due to revolutionary new stop-motion software, Mike will be making this world-class quality film at an unprecedentedly economical cost point.”
It won’t be a straight adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s world, instead “Oz Wars is an animated action-adventure story, but unlike most animated films, it’s not just for kids,” Johnson says. “The Land of Oz will be re-imagined using stop-motion to create a world that’s dark, slick, sexy, and dangerous. It’s long been a goal of mine to create a hard-hitting, grown-up action film using stop-motion animation. Oz Wars is my opportunity to do that.”
The PG-13 movies will see Dorothy caught up in a whirlwind of warrior witches, black magic, martial arts and monsters.
Does sound interesting, but if they don’t get it into cinemas before the hundreds of other Oz movies, it’s likely to get lost in the mix. (Source: Variety)