Tell me if this makes sense to you. On March 8, 2013 Disney will release Sam Raimi‘s Oz: The Great and Powerful, which is a prequel to the classic The Wizard of Oz. What better way to drive sales of the DVD release of the original film, right?
But Warner Bros. is playing its own game. The studio is making early plans for the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, which is in 2014. Part of that plan is putting home video releases of the film on moratorium starting on May 1 this year. So when Oz: The Great and Powerful arrives, there will be no The Wizard of Oz discs on shelves for people to buy. Read More »
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One would imagine Sam Raimi is planning on being incredibly respectful to the original Wizard of Oz with his 2013 3D prequel, Oz The Great and Powerful. There’s just no way the filmmaker would even think to tackle such a mythos unless he could pay homage to the classic film in new and interesting ways. One of those ways has just been revealed thanks to one of the film’s young stars. Joey King, who also stars in The Dark Knight Rises, revealed in an interview that the film begins, and presumably ends, in black and white just like the original. Read her quote and more after the jump. Read More »
The small news for Sam Raimi‘s new Wizard of Oz film Oz: The Great and Powerful is that Abigail Spencer has been cast as “a young woman who is a willing subject of Oz’s magic tricks which the erstwhile magician is performing in Kansas.” The magician being the character played by James Franco, whose balloon eventually is blown off course, landing him in Oz, where he becomes the Wizard we know from the classic film.
But there is a bigger Oz story in play today, as today a ruling in the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals gave Warner Bros. quite a few powers over the characters depicted in The Wizard of Oz. This court decision could have serious ramifications going forward for any studio that seeks to make a film that will capitalize in some measure on an existing film owned by another company. Read More »
What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 31 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!
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What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 30 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!
Read More »
What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 22 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!
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TeeFury’s t-shirt of the day is a Star Wars/Wizard of Oz mash-up designed by Denism79 and titled “Oz Wars”. You might remember that last week it was announced that Mike Johnson (co-director of the 2005 film Corpse Bride) had signed on to direct the CG/Stop-Motion hybrid feature film Oz Wars. For the story I used an image that re-imagined the Wizard of Oz characters as members of the Rebel Alliance. This design goes off of the same premise, and even features the same title (coincidence? I think not!). The t-shirt is available for only $9 plus shipping, and will only be available today (and today only).
Mike Johnson has signed on to direct the CG/Stop-Motion hybrid feature film Oz Wars. The Academy Award and Annie Award-nominee got his start as the Assistant Animation Rigger and Assistant Animator on The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was an animator on James and The Giant Peach, directed three episodes of the lat 1990′s Fox clay animated television series The PJs, and was co-director of the 2005 film Corpse Bride. So basically, he has a long history with stop motion animation.
Written by Rob Moreland (Space Chimps 1 & 2) and Athena Gam (Alien Rock Band), Oz Wars attempts to transform the Wizard of Oz narrative into “a contemporary, freaky action-packed PG-13 audience pleaser, with Dorothy caught up in a whirlwind of warrior witches, black magic, martial arts and monsters.” It’s being described as an animated film thats “not just for kids,” as the world will be “dark, slick, sexy, and dangerous.” Read the press release after the jump.
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