Please, Hollywood, don’t remake The Wizard of Oz!
I hadn’t even pulled off my 3-D glasses after watching Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland when I worried that, oh no, now they will think they can remake The Wizard of Oz. They, of course, being Hollywood decision-makers. And now it comes to pass:
With the 3-D film Alice in Wonderland booming at the box office, Hollywood apparently thinks the time is right for remakes of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Tuesday, the Times reported on Warner Bros. plans, which include one project that “skews a little darker” and focuses on a granddaughter of Dorothy who returns to Oz to fight evil.
Hollywood weighs at least four ‘Wizard of Oz’ remakes. Oh My!
Look–I love Burton’s Wonderland ( or Underland, as Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter would correct). Once you get past the tedious above-ground set-up, it’s a magical, multi-colored, extraordinary visual journey. Not only that, but it has the dialogue snap of Mary Martin’s 1950s televised Peter Pan and the eerie, ominous landscape of Peter Jackson’s 2001 Lord of the Rings.
I cannot, however, imagine remaking The Wizard of Oz, a movie so far ahead of its time, it could not be enhanced by 3-D. And then there’s that unforgettable score–including Judy Garland’s classic “Over the Rainbow” rendition.
If studios want to move forward with the story–okay, try it. I’m willing to give any interpretation a look. I enjoyed The Wiz and loved Wicked. But don’t use Alice as a bone-headed reason to remake the original Oz. The only worthy precursor to Burton’s Alice is Disney’s animated film. (Painting the roses red! Who could ever replicate that scene?)
Here’s an idea–if you have to remake The Wizard of Oz, if you really insist, please recruit Tim Burton for the job. I would definitely follow his Yellow Brick Road–even if the destination is disastrous.
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There is no resisting it… hollywood is so stale all they have left is the re-making of what was good way back when.
I can’t wait for the remake of it’s a wonderful life in 3-d with Ben Stiller as the lead… /sarcasmoff
Yep. It sucks. And what’s worse is, you should get ready for them to remake everything. That’s their new business model. Absolutely everything. From classics to the Korean hit of last year, to alternate takes of popular movies from recent memory (Spiderman, Terminator, Superman, etc.). It sucks. And what makes it suck worse than normal everyday sucking is how unabashed they are about this being the new paradigm. I’m going to Hollywood with a baseball bat. Wanna come!?
I’ll join you…but I’ll just watch.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s funny, but my wife and I had the same experience as you did after watching TB’s Alice in Wonderland.
We both were concerned that they would soon make an Oz remake considering how stale Hollowwood (not a typo!)has become. Its not that there hasn’t been a couple of gems in the past couple of years, but nothing like 1939.
So King Kong, Alice In Wonderland, soon Wizard of OZ…it just seems so likely. I have one advice to offer: With all the books in the OZ series, why doesn’t Hollowwood just pick one of them and make that from scratch?
Just leave this perfect work of film art alone. How can you remake perfection? WHO can replace Judy Garland? Lady GAGA? I don’t think so.
I don’t know, maybe I’m an OZ snob, but picking that film for a remake is like slapping monkey dung on a canvas and trying to pass it as the new Mona Lisa. It just doesn’t work.
Susan,
Sorry, already happened…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078504/
As mentioned above!
In response to another comment. See in context »Hello Susan,
Sorry, I linked the wrong re-make…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422778/
this is the one I meant.
In response to another comment. See in context »David–How did I miss this? It looks wonderful! Did they use the original score, or concoct their own? I can think of a lot of things the Muppets could redo…
In response to another comment. See in context »Hello Susan,
and let us not forget the sequel “Return to Oz”…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089908/
with Piper Laurie as Auntie Em!
In response to another comment. See in context »I think both those movies are great examples of an “OZ” remake! I think the only difference is that The Wiz and the Muppets are great tributes to the Original Wizard of Oz, and they stand out beautifully in their own right. Also Both films (it seems to me) didn’t go out to try to out do the 1939 version of OZ.
In response to another comment. See in context »Lets not forget that the 1939 version of The Wizard of OZ is itself a remake of the 1925 version and then there was the 1914 Oz pic called “The Scarecrow of OZ”.
I was thinking, the only way that could do a remake is if they just take the film and ADD 3D to it. Is that possible?
I have no idea if that would be, technically, possible. For my money, it’s already 3-D!
In response to another comment. See in context »If TB remakes it, we know it will be like: http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/03/humor-site-finally-wakes-up-to.html
Thanks, Paul–this is great. Especially,”Get Johnny Depp and my wife on the phone.” (But I’d still like it…lalalalala…)
In response to another comment. See in context »Hello again Susan. Here is an Oz movies catalog showing every film made on the subject:
http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/movies.htm
Maybe a little hunting and viewing these films might better explain what it is about the MGM’s 1939 masterpiece that truly cements it as a film that is untouchable other then to restore.
Thanks for the link! I’ll check it out!
In response to another comment. See in context »