Black-ish creator Kenya Barris is set to write and direct the reimagining of The Wizard of Oz for Warner Bros.
The film was first announced in 2021 and initially had Watchmen alumna Nicole Kassell attached, but she has now departed the project and Barris is in.
The film will be as a “new take” on Dorothy and the Land of Oz.
There are many adaptations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, including the most well-known being the musical from 1939 starring Judy Garland.
As Variety reports, the specifics of the retelling have been kept under wraps, it is anticipated that it would draw on other motifs from Garland’s Wizard of Oz, with things like the cherished ruby red slippers remaining an important part of the story.
Barris’s feature directorial effort, ‘You People,’ is set to release on Netflix.
The film, based on a script Barris and Jonah Hill co-wrote, is about a young couple and their families navigating contemporary love in the face of societal expectations, cultural disputes, and generational disparities.
The film stars Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Nia Long.
Barris also wrote the upcoming remake of the 1992 classic White Men Can’t Jump, which is directed by Calmatic and stars Sinqua Walls and Jack Harlow.
