Sequel underway over at the Mouse House.
Variety has word that Walt Disney Pictures is moving forward with a sequel to ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’ and has brought in screenwriter Mitchell Kapner, who co-wrote the first film with David Lindsay-Abaire, to work on the script.
No official plot details are available at this point although it is highly likely that key cast members will return with story continuing the adventures of James Franco’s Oscar ‘Oz’ Diggs character.
Kapner will be working from L. Frank Baum’s novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ which is public domain, but he won’t be able to use any of the iconic imagery from the 1939 film. Sam Raimi is not expected to return as director.
In cinemas now, ‘Oz: the Great and Powerful’ follows Oscar Diggs (Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, who is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. He thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.