'Corpse Bride' Co-Director Mike Johnson To Helm 'Oz Wars,'

Contemporary Story Will Feature Martial Arts, Black Magic & Warrior Witches

Yeah, we know, the amount of “The Wizard Of Oz” projects in development is already well on this side of ridiculous but it appears that any idea is a good idea in Hollywood, so why not one more.

Corpse Bride” co-director Mike Johnson has been hired on to helm “Oz Wars.” The stop-motion animated film will feature a contemporary setting, warrior witches, black magic, martial arts and monsters. Far out! But with a script by Rob Moreland (“Space Chimps,” “Happily ‘N Ever After“) and Athena Gam we’re not exactly going to be awaiting greatness here.

“The Land of Oz will be reimagined using stop-motion to create a world that’s dark, slick, sexy and dangerous,” Johnson enthused, seemingly fulfilling our unknown desire to have the world of Oz sexified. The budget on this one will be tight, but thanks to some newfangled software, the film will land with “an unprecedentedly economical cost point.”

No word yet on when casting or production, set up at Vanguard Films, is slated to begin, but those pieces should be coming into place soon. [Variety]