Oz Goes Dark and Twisted

Wasn't American McGee (of the Alice computer game) writing a script for a 'twisted' Oz film

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Yes.
Then he moved to China, finished it over a year ago and ...

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Maybe this will prompt American McGee to finally finish and release his "Oz" game. The artwork for the game looked more like McFarlane's reimagining than the classic film.

It also sounds more like "Return to Oz", which is a much darker film than the musical.

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This isn't accurate. Josh Olson's take is his, and his alone. It has nothing to do with McFarlane. They are not working on this together. McFarlane's got a producer credit because he brought the notion of a remake to Warners, but that's all he did. His publicity hounds leaped on this like the slavering wild dogs they are. The film is not going to be anything like McFarlane's toys.

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For Immediate Release
James A. Jones
Alpine Pictures, Inc
818-333-2600
818-333-2648
jamesj@alpinepix.com
www.alpinepix.com




Alpine Pictures travels The Yellow Brick Road with Roger S. Baum's Dorothy of OZ.

Burbank, CA - August, 15 2007 - Bonne Radford, Randi Barnes, Daniel St Pierre, and Matthew Jon Beck have all signed onto the animated musical Dorothy of OZ being produced by Alpine Pictures, Inc in association with Box Office Productions III, LLC.




Dorothy of OZ is the first in a slated series of animated feature films by Alpine Pictures based on the writings of acclaimed children’s author Roger S. Baum. Mr. Baum’s work continues the legacy of his great-grandfather L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series of books, through new stories of Dorothy’s adventures in the enchanted Land of Oz, and the magical friends she meets along the way.
Ms. Radford, Producer of Dorothy of OZ, has a career that spans over 20 years in entertainment. She has held positions as Head of Feature Animation for DreamWorks SKG, Vice-President of Animation Amblin Entertainment (Amblimation), and Vice-President Production & Finance for Amblin Entertainment.
“We are very excited and privileged to be working with Bonne Radford”, stated Ryan Carroll, CEO of Alpine Pictures, Inc “and are confident in her extraordinary ability to bring this first-rate project to the big screen.”
Ms. Radford began her animation career with Steven Spielberg’s An American Tail, and moved on to work on such prestigious animated productions as Balto, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, and The Road to El Dorado for DreamWorks Animation. Most recently Bonne produced the highly successful Curious George for Universal Pictures, featuring the voices of Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, Eugene Levy and Dick Van Dyke.
Ms. Radford was also part of the production team on several other highly successful feature films including E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future I, II, and III, Hook, Arachnophobia, The Color Purple, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
“Bonne’s gift is her passion for the art of story telling through the medium of animation” shared James A. Jones Executive Vice President of Alpine and added “We are delighted to have such a capable and talented individual as part of our team to bring this dream project to reality.”
Randi Barnes is adapting Roger S. Baum’s children’s adventure tale Dorothy of OZ into a screenplay. Randi is a comedy and animation writer with extensive experience in family and children’s entertainment. In addition to serving on the writing staff of Disney Channel’s American Dragon: Jake Long (for which her script, “Bring It On” was nominated for a NAMIC Vision Award), she has written episodes of Disney’s Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, The Buzz on Maggie, The Emperor’s New School, The Replacements, and the Cartoon Network’s Class of 3000. She has also written for network prime-time comedies, including UPN’s Eve and ABC’s Lost at Home.




Daniel St Pierre will helm Dorothy of OZ as Director. Mr. St. Pierre brings enormous talent to Dorothy of OZ and is familiar with all aspects of animation from storyboard artist to director. Mr. St. Pierre has been involved with such classic animated films as Tarzan, Shark Tale, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and most recently Everyone’s Hero.
Executive Producer Neil Kaufman shared “In my career of over 60 Feature Films this is one the greatest teams I have ever worked with” and went on to express “ Dorothy of OZ is the most exciting film I have produced, and I am honored to be working with such talented individuals as Bonne, Randi, Dan, and Matthew.”
Matthew Jon Beck has been hired as Casting Director, and is already hard at work looking for the new voice of Dorothy Gale. Matthew has worked on Academy Award winning animated projects such as Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles, as well as on Brother Bear, Chicken Little, Monsters Inc and most recently Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.

L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of OZ was published in 1900, and has entertained millions of fans the world over in every form of media. Now Alpine Pictures, in association with Box Office Productions III, LLC is proud to bring Roger S. Baum’s Dorothy of OZ to the big screen as an animated musical produced by Bonne Radford, Written by Randi Barnes, Directed by Daniel St. Pierre, and cast by Mathew Jon Beck.

Alpine Pictures, Inc is a 12-year-old internationally established company engaged in the production, acquisition, and distribution of feature films. Alpine recently completed Love Is the Drug, directed by Elliott Lester and starring Lizzy Caplan (The Class, Mean Girls) John Patrick Amedori (Vanished, Stick it, and The Butterfly Effect) Jenny Wade (Monster-In-Law), D.J. Cotrona (Windfall, Venom), Jonathon Trent (Fashion Victim, You Are Here, and Pray for Morning), Bruce A. Young (The Color of Money, Jurassic Park III), and Daryl Hannah (Splash, Steel Magnolias, and Kill Bill Vol. I & II). In addition Alpine Pictures just wrapped post-production on Dark Honeymoon starring Lindy Booth (Cry Wolf, Dawn of the Dead) Nick Cornish (Psycho Beach Party), Eric Roberts (The Pope of Greenwich Village), Tia Carrere (Wayne’s World, True Lies) Craig Shoemaker (Scream II, The Lovemaster), Daryl Hannah (Splash, Steel Magnolias, and Kill Bill Vol. I & II) and Roy Scheider (Jaws, All that Jazz)
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Well, this will definitely fall into the "wait and see" category. Baum's books are actually a good bit darker than the MGM musical and a serious treatment may actually work. As long as they don't do another musical or bring "Wicked" to the screen. Nothing wrong with the book "Wicked" which is really good, but the music in the musical is pretty uneven, I guess would be the nice way to put it.

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this iz sick!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can MAYBE see a redo of the woz, but dont f it up by makin it "R" rated

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What a shame. This is a disgrace to American culture. Some people are just so pathetic.

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this is just wrong-- it was a children's family flick in the first place,a dn it should stay that way-- PG or G.

but don't make dorothy all sexy and the munchkins all evil looking monsters that crawl under your bed and make it an R rated flick.

it should be children's family movie forever, not a movie for a family whose kids are all grown up!

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Please don't do this to a great, classic. The Wizard of Oz is one of the few things left that is still innocent. Don't make it filthy and ruin the legacy.

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i think it would be freakin awesome

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I think if they are going to "remake" anything to do with the WofOZ they should try doing "Wicked" the musical!! Saw it on Broadway, it would make a GREAT film musical!

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I'm sorry but I think that this is a horrible idea. I collect Wizard of Oz and have a Wizard of Oz online gift store. Parents buy my Oz items for their children's birthday, they decorate their birthday cake like Oz and they buy their daughter's Toto in a basket to go with their little girls Dorothy Halloween costume.
How in the world will they explain to their children that this new movie that they are seeing previews for on TV is a movie that they cannot go see? A young child is not going to understand that at all.
They are taking an American classic and an American icon and during it into something dark and only meant for adults, not for the children. Shame on you Warner Bros. It's always about the mighty dollar!

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For all you criers about it ruining the first movie or it being a bad ida, lets not forget that it, like many movies, is based on a book or story written by someone else. The Wizard of Oz was not an original idea movie. I love the original and I believe it is indeed a classic but I also say kudos and go for it to anyone who wants to make thier own interpritation of a story. They are not even calling it the same thing. I do not think anything can take away from something that is a classic like that and there should be no issue with people who collect or telling your kids its not the same movie. There have been many remakes of many classics and I have not seen a one that had any impact or baring on the relevance of the original.

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WHY DON'T THEY LEAVE THE WIZARD OF OZ ALONE. WHY DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO REMAKE CLASSIC MOVIES? WHEN THEY DO, THE REMAKE IS TERRIBLE. THE WIZARD OF OZ IS ONE OF THOSE MOVIES YOU CANNOT REMAKE. LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!

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And remember, the books weren't so innocent themselves. And it's not like a darker Oz hasn't been done before (coughRETURNTOOZcough). Heck, there have been many inferior ripoffs of the MGM version of the story already!

I think this will be OK if they don't blatantly make a "hip" and "edgy" version of the classic movie. If they take the alibi of being like the book seriously, it won't necessarily be raping our childhoods or whatever. I do wish people would use fresher ideas instead of using what worked in the past though...it seems that the latter won't end anytime soon though, even though Remakemania hasn't drawn tons of money at all, and only leads to the older movies being called "The REAL" so-and-so. Anyway, that's why I like older movies now mostly.

Still, so long as it's not like a certain other time someone redid a story to be more like the book instead of its musical film counterpart (sorry emo kids, Stuart + Wilder still >>>>> Burton + Depp)

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Can anyone spell S-I-C-K?
WHO needs more trash like this? I can already watch garbage on cable! Don't mess with a classic--

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It won't happen. I think there's too many people against it--there have been numerous attempts over the past decade to remake "Oz" but none went through. For example, at one point Tim Burton was in talks to do it while doing the "Chocolate Factory" remake, but he turned it down, saying he didn't mind remakes but "The Wizard of Oz is untouchable."

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What has this nation come to! Is nothing sacred anymore! It is all about money. Warner Bros. I have to say that you are becoming more and more of a disgrace. But then so is this Nation. And we wonder why other nations think we lack morals and standards. Could it because we are becoming just that?

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They are sick.

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