The last time a so-called 'urban' musician took on The Wizard of Oz, we ended up with The Wiz. Hopefully things will work out a little better this time. Variety reports that Pras Michel (of The Fugees) has secured the film and television rights to the comic series Dark Oz. The story centers on a much more violent and scary Land of Oz. A grown-up Dorothy Gale is back in town along with some of the familiar faces (Tinman, The Scarecrow), and even some less familiar characters from Frank L. Baum's fantasy.

The comics were created by Aaron Denenberg, Ralph Griffith and Stuart Kerr, and were released by Caliber Comics. After twenty issues, six specials, and two three-issue limited series, the Oz line was completed. Then, the series was revived under Arrow Comics and earned the name change of Dark Oz to finish the stories originally started in the first series. After five issues, another name change was on board, and Dark Oz became The Land of Oz. When these later stories began, a much more conventional (and far less Gothic) vision of Oz returned.

Pras is planning to produce all three live action films adapted from the Dark Oz line. Plus, he has his sights on playing The Scarecrow in the feature film. For those of you out there who only know Pras as a musician, he already has plenty of experience in the business. In 2007, he produced and starred in a documentary about the homeless, and he is also behind the sci-fi thriller The Mutant Chronicles with Thomas Jane. There is no word yet on who Pras has in mind to write or direct Oz, but stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates that come our way.

Odds and ends from Wednesday:

• Okay, so you're probably pretty sick of all the mutant talk by now, what with the tremendous amount of fuss surrounding X-Men: The Last Stand. Well, snap the hell out of it because The Mutant Chronicles is gearing up for production and just added Devon Aoki to a cast that already consists of John Malkovich, Thomas Jane, Stephen Rea and Ron Perlman. Aoki, who you may remember playing the devilish Miho in Sin City, will take on a similar role as a sexy, fearless fighter who puts kicking ass before her two small children. Look for the group MAM (Moms Against Miho) to have a problem with this whole thing.
• In an effort to to tap into the insecure, sexually inexperienced male inside all of us, Dreamworks wasted no time in snatching up the spec script, She's Out of My League, from the writing-directing team of Sean Anders and John Morris. Described as The 40-Year-Old Virgin meets There's Something About Mary, story will surround some ordinary dude who is attracted to, what he believes, is the perfect woman. That is, until his friends and family grow suspicious and attempt to sabotage any chance he has with the girl.
• Director M. Night Shyamalan recently spoke with Harry over on AICN and had some pretty interesting things to say about his upcoming film, Lady in the Water. While he didn't spoil the plot or give away the twist ending (Oh, c'mon -- you know there's going to be a twist ending), he did admit to feeling as if the film had a sort of Coen Brothers feel to it, in that it's very independent. That's also one of the main reasons why Lady went through Warners instead of Disney, so that Shyamalan could be, in his words, "off the map a little bit." Hey, I dig -- so long as that map doesn't lead to the bottom of a toilet.

Perhaps it's mutants, not penguins, that are going to be the Next Big Thing in Hollywood: sticking its toe into the ever-present X-Men mutant frenzy is The Mutant Chronicles which, in a refreshingly retro bit of news, is based on what The Hollywood Reporter calls "a board game." (In reality, it's an RPG, so the label of "board game" seems sort of insulting, like comparing Dungeons and Dragons to Candyland. But I digress.)

The movie is set in the 23rd century, during a time in which earth's natural resources have been "pillaged" by corporations, and "a marauding army of NecroMutants wages a battle against humans for the little that remains." Thomas Jane will play Major Mitch Hunter, the heroic leaders of the human (and a Marine to boot - USA! USA!) who takes the lead in the fight against both those damn mutants and The Man. In the 23rd century, The Man is represented by a guy named Constantine - played by John Malkovich, so expect lots of yelling -  who "heads a United Nations-style council of four corporation-run countries" that is responsible for the grim state of the world. When the mutants rise up, Constantine and his crew would rather just destroy the earth (saving the important humans, of course) than deal with fighting off the invasion. You know, sort of like moving instead of cleaning up after a really wild party. I'm just guessing here, but I think Jane is going to win and save us all.

Mutant Chronicles is scheduled to start filming in London this June.