Hollywood is going to have to come up with a term for “sequel to the prequel.” Ridley Scott started this linguistic problem last year with Prometheus, and now Sam Raimi isn’t helping the matter. Before waiting to see how his most recent film, Oz the Great and Powerful, fares at the box office—to say nothing of how it does critically, which already doesn’t look good—word is Disney already has a sequel in the works.
Co-screenwriter Mitchell Kapner has been tapped to pen a follow-up to the prequel, according to Variety. Not surprising given the fact the studio has already invested (sunk?) $325 million into the project. With this much money behind the film, it all but has to turn into a franchise. Kapner, however, will be limited in terms of what he can write into the next films. While he’ll be allowed to work with the characters from this film, the ruby slippers, for instance, won’t be making an appearance as Warner Bros. still owns the rights to those sparkly shoes and other “iconic imagery.”
Disney has yet to comment on this news, which means that should Oz languish in ticket sales this weekend they can merely draw the green curtain on this idea and never speak of it again. That seems unlikely given Oz is the first big film of 2013, is seeing a lot of hype, and is bolstered by not only Raimi’s big name, but also Michelle Williams, James Franco, and Mila Kunis’ awesome interviews.
