Oz

Oz would be a 2027 live-action/animated fantasy musical film directed by Rob Marshall, with an screenplay by David Magee and John DeLuca from a story by Magee, while Marshall would produce the film alongside Marc Platt and Christopher DeFaria. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Marc Platt Productions, the film would be based on the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, and would star Skai Jackson and Anika Noni Rose in live-action roles, while Lupita Nyong'o, Awkwafina, Cristela Alonso, Oprah Winfrey, and Susanne Blakeslee would provide their voices for the film. Kris Bowers would compose the score for the film, while the songs for the film would be written by Bowers and Scott Wittman.
Development on a live-action/animated hybrid film based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would begin in early 2023, with Marshall set to direct and Platt set to produce. Magee would join as a writer in mid-2023, while DeFaria would join as a co-producer in late 2023. DeLuca would join the film as co-writer in early 2024, alongside Jackson and Noni Rose as its live-action stars. Nyong'o, Thompson, and Alonso would join the film in mid-2024, while Blakeslee and Winfrey would join the cast in late 2024.
Filming would begin in February 2025, and would end in June 2025, taking place mostly at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, througth some scenes would be filmed in location at Kansas. Animation would begin in July 2025, and would last approximately 2 years due to the film's extensive use of traditionally-animated characters and settings. Marshall would draw inspiration from elements of the original book while working on the film, and would avoid watching the 1939 film adaptation in order to "make a film that stood on its own".
Oz would be released in July 25, 2027, and would become a critical and commercial success, with critics praising the film for its direction, screenplay, performances (particularly Jackson, Nyong'o, Bakeslee, Alonso, and Thompson's), animation, production values, sense of nostalgia musical numbers, visual effects, and score. The film would earn 998 million dollars at the worldwide box office over a budget of 130 million dollars. Oz would earn three Academy Awards for Best Actress, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song, as well as an Academy Award nomimation for Best Visual Effects.
== Synopsis ==
In Kansas, there's a little girl named Dorothy, who couldn't be happier with her life with her Aunt Eliabeth and her home in Kansas. However, circunstances led to Elizabeth and Dorothy being forced to move to a new home, something Dorothy is very against. Not wanting to lose her home, Dorothy secretly hides in the house, just as a tornado strikes Kansas. Dorothy and her house end up being sucked right into the tornado. However, Dorothy not only survives, but ends up transported by the magical land of Oz, accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East in her arrival when the house fell on her. This causes her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, to appear in an attempt to take her magical Silver Slippers, but Glinda the Good Witch instead gives them to Dorothy. Hunted by the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys, Dorothy now wants even more to go back to Kansas, but it is said that the only one capable of taking her home is the "Wizard of Oz", who lives in Emerald City, forcing Dorothy to travel there by following the yellow brick road. On her way, Dorothy meets three other persons who, also wanting to see the Wizard, join her: The Scarecrow, who wants a brain, The Tin Woman, who wants a heart, and The Cowardly Lioness, who wants to be brave. As they battle the Witch's forces, the group develops a strong bond, causing Dorothy to wonder if she wants to go to Kansas
== Cast ==
* Skai Jackson as Dorothy Gale, a young girl from Jansas, who ends up in the land of Oz by a tornado, and now tries to return home. Jackson would describe Dorothy's arc as "realizing the meaning of the eord home".
* Anika Noni Rose as Aunt Elizabeth, Dorothy's aunt and legal caretaker. According to director Rob Marshall, the character's name would be changed from Em to Elizabeth because he "was afraid the it ay sound too stereotypical".
=== Voice cast ===
* Lupita Nyong'o as The Tin Woman, a good-nature tin woman who wants to have heart to experience love. Director Rob Marshall would hire Nyong'o for the role because "the tweaks on the characters' arc require a vocal quality that only Nyong'o can bring".
* Awkwafina as The Scarecrow, a scarecrow who eishes to have a brain, as she feels she is stupid without one. Awkwafina would describe her as "a funny character with low self-steem".
* Cristela Alonso as The Cowardly Lioness, a lioness who wishes to be brave.
* Susanne Blakeslee as The Wicked Witch of the West, an evil witch who wants Dorothy's silver slippers to amplify her own power and take over Oz. According to producer Marc Platt, Blakeslee would be hired for the role instead of a celebrity because "as Disney's current voice for Maleficent, it is obvious there's no one more able to bring a really 'evil witch' voice to her than MacNeille". According to Blakeslee, the film will "make clear the kind of relationship the witch has with all of her servants".
* Oprah Winfrey as Glinda the Good Witch, a good-hearted witch who helps Dorothy upon arriving to Oz.
* Danny DeVito as The Mayor of Munchkinland, the leader of the munchkins at Munchkinland, who greets Dorothy when she arrives there.
* Bill Hader as the Winged Monkeys, an army of flying monkeys that the Wicked Witch of the West both employs as her army and constantly abuses.
== Music ==
Kris Bowers would compose the film's score. Bowers would compose a "more whimsical and old-school" score for the film than most of his work, througth he would avoid listening to the original film's score in order to "create melodies that are totally new". Bowers would compose a "good-hearted and homesick" theme for Dorothy, a "comically genius" theme for The Scarecrow, a "motherly, cowardly, but protective" theme for The Cowardly Lioness, and a "good-hearted and loyal" theme for The Tin Woman. Bowers would also create a "simply magical" theme for Glinda, and an "evil, bombastic, and elegant" theme for The Wicked Witch of the West.
Bowers would also compose the music for the film's songs, with lyrics by Scott Wittman, who previously worked with director Rob Marshall on Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Bowers and Wittman would refrain of using songs for the 1939 film, as they would want to create "a very stand-alone soundtrack", througth they would use soe of them as inspiration for the songs. Marshall would hire Wittman because he would feel the film "really needs some Mary Poppins-style songs". Nick Jonas would perform a song for the film's end credits.
== Reception ==
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film woud have an approval rating of 93%, with an average rating of 9.5/10, based on 315 reviews. The website's critical consensus would read, "Magical and wonderful, Oz is a whimsical update of a classic book whose storyline and performances will appeal to children, and whose animation and songs will appeal to everybody's inner child, creating an incredible experience that won't feel like the 1939 classic, but will undoubtedly feel like Mary Poppins". On Metacritic, the film would have a weighted rating of 81 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim".
== Future ==
During the film's premiere, in July 25, 2027, director Rob Marshall would state that, while there isn't a sequel in the works, he does have some ideas for a follow-up, citing the subsequent Oz books that L. Frank Braum wrote as "a big source of inspiration of where to take these characters, and what stories to create". He would particularly express interest in a film featuring the character of Ozma, stating that "her backstory and relationship with Dorothy are facinating aspects of her that, with some tweaks, can easily please a modern audience while also keeping their essence".
== Trivia ==
* This would be the fifth Disney film to be directed by Rob Marshall, after Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides (2011), Into the Woods (2014), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and The Little Mermaid.
** This would also be the second Disney film directed by Marshall to be combine live-action and hand-drawn animation, after Mary Poppins Returns.