Now it’s “The Wizard(s) of Oz”
Per the news re WB yesterday, the LA Times reports Disney is piling on:
Warner Bros. has two “Wizard of Oz” remakes in development. Universal has the Oz-inspired “Wicked.” And now Disney has an Oz movie too — from the producer of “Alice in Wonderland,” no less.
Joe Roth, the studio-executive-turned-producer, is developing a movie called “Brick” that delves into how the Wizard of Oz came to sit behind the curtain (like Dorothy, he’s apparently from Kansas). Mitchell Kapner, the writer on the mob comedy “The Whole Nine Yards,” has written a draft of a screenplay, basing it on pieces from several other L. Frank Baum “Oz” books as well as his original ideas.
I’ve read most of Frank Baum “Oz” books (aloud years ago to my oldest son) and from what I can remember, there’s plenty of material to adapt.
But this whole thing has got me thinking: If I had a billion dollars and could pay studios not to remake classic movies, which ones would I include in that protected list?
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Apartment
The Shawshank Redemption
Casablanca
The Godfather, Parts 1 and 2
Taxi Driver
Dr. Strangelove
Broadcast News
Chinatown
That’s off the top of my head. I’m basically trying to think of movies I consider to be ‘perfect’ films. I mean, how can you top ‘perfection’?
If you could ‘protect’ a list of films from being the subject of a remake — remember what happened to poor, poor Psycho — what movies would you choose?