With Disney’s Wizard Of Oz prequel Oz The Great And Powerful headed into cinemas this weekend on a wave of mostly positive reviews (including our own), the Mouse House team is looking to the future. More specifically, to a sequel.
Actually, plans have been under way for several months, with original writer Mitchell Kapner (who shared credit for the script with Rise Of The Guardians’ David Lindsay-Abaire) hired to start work on sequel ideas.
Nothing is known plot-wise, but given the span of time between when this new Oz adventure leaves James Franco’s Oscar Diggs and the age of the Wizard in the 1939 film, there’s plenty of scope for more stories, assuming the Lollipop Guild doesn’t hold everything up with contract negotiations and strike threats. Plus there is Warner Bros. to consider, with the studio owning rights to the 1939 pic and all of its copyrighted elements (including, apparently, the phrase, “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”.)
But this has become standard for big films: the sequel is often in early development just in case the movie hits big. Disney has been trying to get an Alice In Wonderland sequel moving for years now, and has lots of other fairytale fare waiting in the wings to come out, including Maleficent and a new version of Sleeping Beauty.
Oz The Great And Powerful features James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Zach Braff, with Sam Raimi behind the camera.
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