Dorothy to kick ass in Oz remake?

We’re not in Oz anymore – at least, not the Oz all of us grew up knowing and loving.
Variety reports that Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow are planning a new take on the venerable L. Frank Baum books that spawned the 1939 classic THE WIZARD OF OZ. The new project was conceived by producer Todd McFarlane (SPAWN). Josh Olson (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE) will provide the script, which apparently wil turn Dorothy into a kick-ass heroine of the sort seen in ALIEN and TERMINATOR.
McFarlane’s company previously created a series of collectible figures that turned Dorothy into a buxom dominatrix, but Olson says the new film will not go that far:

“I saw those toys, and Dorothy as some bondage queen isn’t something I want to do,” Olson told Daily Variety. “The appealing thing about the Baum books to me is how wildly imaginative they are. There are crazy characters from amazing places. I want this to be ‘Harry Potter’ dark, not ‘Seven’ dark.”

 The new film will apparently not be a remake but a sequel, with a new plot that takes the familiar characters in new directions. Says Olson:

“We still want to take advantage of the first film, which might be the most beloved of all time, and rely on its place in your cultural memory to bubble beneath the surface,” Olson said. “A lot of the plot is mine, but the characters are all Baum.”

Why tinker with a familiar classic? Well, Warner Brothers already owns the rights to the property, and McFarlane thinks that modern visual effects technology can turn Oz into a contemporary blockbuster:

“My pitch was ‘How do we get people who went to ‘Lord of the Rings’ to embrace this?’ ” McFarlane said. “I want to create (an interpretation) that has a 2007 wow factor. You’ve still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she’s much closer to the Ripley from ‘Alien’ than a helpless singing girl.”

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