Oz: The Great and Powerful
3D Blu-ray | Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, and Zach Braff
Walt Disney Studios
Rated PG | Running Time: 130 Minutes
Release Date: June 11, 2013

If you keep up with my reviews, you know that I wrote up a review of the last time I saw this movie, which happened to be in real IMAX 3D, and you can find that review here.

A quick recap of the story, Oz (James Franco, This is the End), finds himself in the land of Oz, where he goes on a journey to prove himself, with some help from a few witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis, Family Guy), Evanora (Rachel Weisz, The Mummy), and of course we can’t forget about Glinda, (Michelle Williams, Dawson’s Creek), who I thought was one of the highlights as far as acting is concerned. And yes Dorothy, cause this is a Sam Raimi (Spider-Man Trilogy) film, be on the lookout for a familiar chin, Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) has a cameo appearance.

It didn’t take long for director Sam Raimi to find some big job offers after Spider-Man 4 was trashed by Sony. Raimi has been attached to a new take on the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz for Walt Disney, and also to the movie adaptation of video game property, World of Warcraft, leaving him needing to make a big decision.

Since Raimi was hired on to this new venture, titled Oz: The Great and Powerful, it appeared that it would be the next movie he made, but official confirmation on his commitment was still needed. This bring us to this very moment, where Raimi has indeed informed Disney that he’s ready, willing, and able to head to the land of Oz.

Spider-Man 4 is nowhere near its May 2011 release, but Sony isn’t sitting around — the studio has hired James Vanderbilt to write the scripts for both Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 movies.

Vanderbilt wrote a draft for Spider-Man 4, but director Sam Raimi went out to David Lindsay-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart) for a rewrite on that, and then moved on to grab Gary Ross (Big, Pleasantville) for yet another rewrite.

While Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are all coming back for the fourth installment of the franchise, there have been occasions where it seemed like none would be coming back, so Sony is setting up for the long-haul with Vanderbilt as their screenwriter and fully-prepared to move on to a “franchise reboot” with a new director and stars if the others don’t come back for future chapters.