McGee is set to write the script for Disney, about a teenage kid named Arthur who finds himself not in Kansas anymore, but in Oz. Here’s what McGee said to The Hollywood Reporter about the main charactor, and the idea of working with Bruckheimer:
“Like Neo in THE MATRIX films, the boy makes a hero’s journey and comes to grips with his powers. What Jerry Bruckheimer was able to do with PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN was simply brilliant, and since OZ is similar in tone to that film franchise, I’d like to follow that model.”
Hard for me to see anything having to do with the land of Oz being similar to PIRATES, but I’m sure I’m missing something here.
I had a bunch of friends growing up who found THE WIZARD OZ to be one of the freakiest movies they’ve ever seen- like seriously, they hated watching it cause it creeped them out too much. And MJ’s RETURN TO OZ was… well, shit, that was freaky! Least to say, the idea of heading back to OZ, with today’s technology, could be pretty frickin’ cool. As long as nobody even thinks about singing.