Sam Raimi Will Direct OZ, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
Last week we brought you the news that Disney offered Sam Raimi the opportunity to direct their Wizard of OZ prequel, OZ, The Great and Powerful. Today we've learned that Sam Raimi has accepted the offer, So it looks like Raimi is now 100% committed to bringing the land of OZ back to life in a way we've never seen it before... in 3D!
Now that Raimi is on board to direct it looks like Robert Downey Jr. has also commited himself to the film project, which tells the wizards origin story, where he came from, and how he ended up in OZ as the great and powerful wizard. He is a circus wrangler transported by tornado to the mysterious world of Oz where he gets mistaken for a know-it-all.
This will actually be Raimi's first directing gig since Drag Me to Hell. Hopefully he is still hard at work developing his World of Warcraft film, we can't have that falling through the cracks. This OZ film will definitely shoot before he gets to WOW though. I have no idea when OZ will go into production because Downey Jr. has a full line-up of projects ready to go next year. He's got Sherlock Holmes 2, Gravity, and The Avengers. Adding OZ to his plate means that he will have no free time to do anything at all next year except make movies.
Like many of you I'm a big fan of Raimi, but I can't say I'm incredibly excited he is making this Wizard of OZ film. I just am not 100% on board with the film's prequel concept. Raimi and Downey Jr. are definitely the best thing to happen to the film's production, so hopefully they are able to work well with each other and turn this OZ film project into something awesome and fun.
What are your thoughts on Raimi directing this new OZ film with Robert Downey Jr.?