Warners off to see the 'Wizard'? (LAT)

By Nancy Tartaglione

The Los Angeles Times reports that Warner Bros. is mulling a new trip down the yellow brick road. The studio is said to be examining two existing "Wizard of Oz" projects, with an eye toward giving one of them a modern gloss.

One project, "Oz," currently lives at Warners' New Line label. The Temple Hill production has a script written by Darren Lemke, a writer on the upcoming "Shrek Forever After."

A second "Wizard of Oz" project, set up at Warners proper, skews a little darker, says the LAT. It is written by "A History of Violence" screenwriter Josh Olson and focuses on a granddaughter of Dorothy who returns to Oz to fight evil. Producer Basil Iwanyk and his Thunder Road Pictures are behind that one.

Although still in the early development stages, the idea of a new "Wizard of Oz" movie is said to have been advanced seriously enough that representatives for some of Hollywood's top directors have been briefed.

With its Harry Potter series drawing to an end, Warners likes the idea of a franchise, and "Wizard of Oz" and the many books L. Frank Baum wrote featuring many of the same characters fit the bill nicely, notes the paper.