There are some people who have a deep devotion to the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz, and this next bit is going to cause them to freak out: Warner Bros. is in talks with Robert Zemeckis to direct a remake using the original ’39 shooting script.
About the only interesting thing regarding this whole thing is the part about using the original script, which Deadline correctly states had 19 writers, although you wouldn’t know it from how classic the movie turned out. They’re calling it a “live-action remake”, which doesn’t do much to quell the fears of the fans, and there’s no word yet on whether or not they’re keeping it a musical. They’d almost have to you’d think, especially if the original script is in play, but you never know with these remakes anymore. There’s the school of thought that says if you’re doing a Wizard of Oz remake you HAVE to have the songs, while the other believes they could never do near as good of a job as they did back in the 30’s so forget the tunes and concentrate on the drama.
Whichever camp you’re in Warner’s isn’t listening. Instead they’re barreling ahead at full-steam, even though Sam Raimi is prepping his own version of L. Frank Baum’s tale, Oz, The Great and Powerful, which is more of a prequel as it centers on the Wizard’s first arrival in Oz.
There have been several “sequels” and adaptations throughout the years, a bunch of them animated, but if this remake really happens it’s going to continue the debate over why-bother-with- remakes, especially those using the same scripts their predecessors used. See: Psycho.