December 16, 2010 15:03

'Wizard Of Oz' spin-off 'Oz Wars' goes into production

Film becomes seventh 'Oz'-related movie in the works

Oz Wars, a new stop-motion animated film set within the fantasy world first visited in The Wizard Of Oz, has gone into production. The new film, helmed by The Corpse Bride co-director Mike Johnson, becomes the seventh known Oz films in the works.

Oz-related films that are known about include Sam Raimi and Robert Downey Jr's Oz: The Great And Powerful. Drew Barrymore's Surrender Dorothy is also in the works, as is a potential remake of the original 1939 film, a film adaptation of the musical Wicked, an untitled script by Todd McFarlane and Oz, written by Shrek Forever After's Darren Lemke.

Variety magazine reports that Vanguard Films will be producing the movie, and quote Johnson as saying: "It's an animated action-adventure story, but unlike most animated films, it's not just for kids."

He added: "The Land of Oz will be reimagined using stop-motion to create a world that's dark, slick, sexy and dangerous."

The original The Wizard Of Oz film is a 1939 American musical fantasy film directed primarily by Victor Fleming from a script mostly by Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf. It is 70 years old next year.