'Wizard of Oz' Sequel to Star Dakota Fanning?

Warner Brothers wants to make a sequel to the 1939 Victor Fleming adaptation of Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz. On the surface that seems all well and good, but the original news source, an article from the UK's Daily Express, shares a few surprising details that make this a contender for an award I just made up: Most Unexpected Film News I've Read in a While.

It's no surprise that the WB would want to send Dakota Fanning over the rainbow, but it is kind of shocking to learn they've no intention of a remake. The fifteen year old Fanning would play a grand daughter of Dorothy who, for an unknown reason, ends up in the land of the Tin Man. But before that gives you visions of Robin Williams heading back to Neverland in Hook, take a gander at this quote from one of the film's producers: "You've still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she's much closer to the Ripley character from Alien [Sigourney Weaver] than a helpless singing girl."

Makes me wonder, is water out and a flamethrower in? I wouldn't doubt it considering the producer who dropped that bomb was none other than Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. That means we have a hypothetically big budget return to The Wizard of Oz starring Dakota Fanning as the grand daughter of a hardened, Ripley-esque Dorothy being overseen by the man who created a comic series about a vengeful Hellspawn.

Yep, sounds like a post-millennium journey down the yellow brick road to me.