Warner Horizon Television has picked up Red Brick Road, a sci-fi take on L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz.”  Created by artist Rob Prior, the series is a futuristic sequel that puts a darker and edgier spin on the characters, such as a robotic Tin Man and a red-cloaked Witch Assassin.  Red Brick Road has also been described as being in the vein of Game of Thrones since it’s expected to incorporate political intrigue and violence.  The series is being shepherded by executive producers Mark Wolper, Roy Lee  and Adrian Askarieh.  Hit the jump for more, plus a look at some of Prior’s concept art.

In the fall of 2011, when Oz The Great and Powerful was filming in Michigan, I got to visit the set along with a few other online reporters.  During a break in filming, even though he was incredibly busy, Sam Raimi sat down with us to answer some questions.  He talked about the challenges of making the film, pulling material from L. Frank Baum’s books, having to be careful about using certain elements due to fear of litigation, filming in Michigan, how the entire film is being made on soundstages, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

Today only, Amazon is offering 22 movies you can download to own for $5 each in HD, and $4 each in SD.  Per Amazon, “Purchased videos will be stored in Your Video Library where you can access them whenever you want; watch on your PC, Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or more than 300 HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top devices.”  Hit the jump for the list of films (which includes titles such as The Dark Knight, Casablanca, The Goonies, 300, The Town, The Departed, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Matrix) or click here for the full list on Amazon.

Collider was in attendance this morning at a press event in Burbank where Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group celebrated their 90^th anniversary* (*technically the company turns ninety on April 4^th, 2013) by unveiling their new 90-year logo and announcing a slate of new Blu-ray and DVD transfers. However the biggest surprise was an announcement that they’re currently working on a special restoration and conversion of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz from 2D to 3D. The new 3D edition of The Wizard of Oz will hit shelves everywhere sometime next year in September or October.

Also announced this morning, two new documentaries on working at the Warner’s Lot, a 100 DVD Collection of the Best Films from Warner Brothers and a 50 Blu-ray Collection of the Best Films from Warner Brothers, among others. For the full press release, a list of just what movies are included in the 50/100 film sets, a trailer for the sets, and images, hit the jump.

Following their Hall H panel at Comic-Con, director Sam Raimi, along with actresses Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams, held a press conference to discuss the new film Oz: The Great and Powerful, which already looks intriguing and compelling, just from its small glimpses.  The story is a prequel to the classic Wizard of Oz, telling how the selfish Wizard (played by James Franco) arrived in Oz from Kansas and went on to become a more selfless ruler and man.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

The first bits of footage from Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful have gone online.  The behind-the-scenes video features a great look at costumes used in the film for a number of characters, including Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Oz himself (James Franco).  Franco and Kunis also talk at length about their characters and the world they live in, along with a comparison of the similarities and differences to the beloved film, The Wizard of Oz.  They also comment on being fans of the L. Frank Baum source novels and reflect on memories of the original film they viewed as kids.  Hit the jump to check out the footage and a few screencaps highlighting the costume design.

Disney has released a great teaser poster for Sam Raimi‘s Oz The Great and Powerful.  The pic serves as a prequel to the classic fantasy The Wizard of Oz and stars James Franco as the eponymous wizard.  The story centers on Franco’s small-time circus magician with dubious ethics who finds himself transported to Oz and drawn into a battle between the three witches Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams).  The film also stars Zach Braff as Franco’s circus assistant, and Braff will also lend his vocal talents to one of the CGI creatures in the story — Finley, the winged monkey.

With Disney promoting the film at Comic-Con next week, I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of marketing materials.  Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Oz The Great and Powerful opens March 8, 2013.

Not to be confused with the animated movie that’s in development, Teefury has released the t-shirt mash-up “Oz Wars”.  The shirt has Leia, Chewie, Threepio, and R2 off to see the Wizard, while Toto has clearly given into the dark side of the Force.  Hit the jump to check out the t-shirt.

Because the world needed yet another freaking Wizard of Oz re-imagining/sequel/prequel, director Mike Johnson (Corpse Bride) has signed on to helm the CG/stop-motion flick Oz Wars for Vanguard Films.  Variety reports that the script (written by Rob Moreland and Athena Gam), “is a transformation of the Oz narrative, with Dorothy caught up in a whirlwind of warrior witches, black magic, martial arts and monsters against a contemporary backdrop.”  Johnson (who also worked as an animator on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach) says his take on the Land of Oz re-imagines the world as “dark, slick, sexy and dangerous.”  Throw in the word “sticky” and Oz Wars may as well take place on the floor of a nightclub.

Hit the jump for what Vanguard chief John Williams had to say on the film and a refresher on the other Wizard of Oz projects in development.

Yesterday, we reported on the news that Robert Zemeckis was in negotiations to direct a remake of The Wizard of Oz for Warner Bros, which would use the original script from the 1939 classic as its screenplay.  Thankfully, Zemeckis has now denied that that he’ll be involved in this terrible sounding project.  According to TheWrap, Zemeckis will not be directing the proposed remake and will instead continue to focus on his upcoming 3D motion-capture film based off of The Beatles 1968 movie/album Yellow Submarine.  Zemeckis also recently signed on to direct his first live-action film in years with the time travel film, Timeless.

It’ll now be interesting to see if Warner Bros will continue to toy around with this idea while talking to other directors or if the studio will just choose wisely and move on.  As always, more as we hear it.

There are some movies that should never be remade.  One of those films is The Wizard of Oz.  However, it looks like nothing is sacred anymore in Hollywood since Warner Bros is now in early talks with Robert Zemeckis to direct a live-action remake of the beloved 1939 classic.  The proposed film will be so true to the classic film that Warner Bros is even planning on using the original script from the movie.  I hope that everyone is in agreement with me when I say that I think that this sounds terrible and completely unnecessary.  You can hit the jump to find out why Warner Bros might go through with the film along with a recap of what other Wizard of Oz films are in the works.

The other day I had the opportunity to watch the twenty minutes of “Tron Night” footage and then participate in a round table interview with the writers of Tron: Legacy, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Tron: Legacy, the sequel to the cult classic Tron, follows Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) as he searches for his missing father Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges – protagonist of the first film) into the depths of a digital computer world. What stuck out most about the twenty minutes of footage shown wasn’t the oft talked about dazzling action scenes, of which you can see glimpses of in the trailer and the recently released short clip, but rather the focus on character and relationships. Often times in big budget tent-pole films, the set pieces take precedence over the characters within them. This does not appear to be true of Tron: Legacy. It is revealing that the climax of the Tron Night footage was not something blowing up or people fighting one another or a razzle dazzle chase scene but instead a reunion between father and son. It is this emotional core at the heart of the Tron sequel that gives me hope as to its possible merit.

During the interview, scribes Kitsis and Horowitz, best known for their work on the television show Lost, expanded on the emotional core at the heart of Tron: Legacy as well as discussed how they pitched the film to Jeff Bridges, what Tron and The Wizard of Oz have in common and the potential for a Tron 3.0 — among many other topics of conversation. Hit the jump to check out the interview.

New details have emerged on Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful.  As we previously reported, the film is a prequel/re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz and would tell how the Wizard (which Robert Downey Jr. is unofficially attached to play) came to the merry old land of Oz and land the title of Wizard.  Since these new details could be considered spoilers, I’ve put them after the jump.

Hit the jump to read more about Oz the Great and Powerful.  Principal photography is expected to begin next summer.

It’s been a topic of discussion since this summer.  Now, we finally have confirmation that Sam Raimi’s next stint in the director’s chair will come via Disney’s Oz: The Great and Powerful.  Raimi, who has two other projects on his table in addition to Oz, committed to the Disney project with production set to begin next year on the 3D film.  In addition to Raimi’s commitment, Disney has also brought David Lindsay-Abaire on board to perform re-writes on the Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards) script.  Lindsay-Abaire recently adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole for the silver screen.  That film stars Nicole Kidman and was picked up by Lionsgate at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.

For more on Robert Downey Jr.’s involvement with Oz,  Raimi and Lindsay-Abaire’s previous collaboration, and Raimi’s “other two” projects, hit the jump.

Last week, we reported that Disney had offered Sam Raimi the director’s chair for Oz, The Great and Powerful.  Today, Deadline reports that he’s taken it.  Furthermore, they report that Robert Downey Jr. has signed on to star as the wayward circus wrangler who would become the Wizard of Oz.  Disney is hoping that they can land another billion-dollar-hit as they did this year with Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.  Oh, and Oz is going to be 3D (the movie we’re talking about right now, not the HBO prison drama, although that would be interesting/terrifying).

Hit the jump for more on Raimi and Downey’s schedules.