Updated: Zemeckis' publicist has quickly denied his involvement in the film
according to The Wrap, and from the looks of things he has turned the project down. Good for him... he will be rewarded in heaven. Though of course not everyone will turn down the lucrative offer so it's only a matter of time until someone else becomes officially attached... Here we go again, another
Wizard of Oz remake (the fifth or sixth in development right now) and this one is probably the most repulsive of the lot.
Deadline report that Warner Bros. are looking to remake (and boy do they mean it) the popular 1939 classic by re-filming the original MGM script as a new live-action feature which they have sounded out
Robert Zemeckis to direct. Talk about staying true to the classic! The whole thing of course sounds like a creatively frivolous exercise (kind of like re-painting an already perfect red wall with the same colour tint) but as The Wizard of Oz is such a popular family movie, it's one that will likely be very financially rewarding for the studio. And you have to remember how competitive these studio execs are in Hollywood. Warner Bros. have seen the $1 billion+ mark
Alice in Wonderland reached for Disney this year and I just wonder if the plan is to try and beat The Mouse out of the gates who are gearing up to begin production on their own Oz remake -
The Great and Powerful Oz with
Sam Raimi directing next year. By making a do-over of an old dusty screenplay, WB only need to bring in a writer to re-draft it and it could be good to go very quickly, scarily.
Zemeckis of course for two decades was one of the more creative directors in the business but has recently found himself lost in an obsession with motion-capture technology which he is convinced is the dawning of a new era of filmmaking. He has made
Polar Express, Beowulf, Christmas Carol and will next direct
The Yellow Submarine for Disney. But Warner Bros. have made it known they want their studio to be his new home attaching Zemeckis to the spec script
Timeless, offering him the
Superman: The Man of Steel gig he turned down and are now trying to get him to board this wretched thing. I am really desperate to see Zemeckis return to live-action movie-making but not like this.