Alpine Adapts Dorothy of Oz

Tuesday, August 14, 2007
By: Ryan Ball

Alpine Pictures Inc. exec VP James Arthur Jones dropped us a line telling us about Dorothy of Oz, a feature-length animated musical the company is producing in association with Box Office Productions III, LLC. The pic will be the first in a series of animated features Alpine Pictures plans to base on the writings of children’s author Roger S. Baum, whose great grandftather, L. Frank Baum, authored The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series.

Serving as a producer on Dorothy of Oz is Bonne Radford, an industry veteran who has served as head of feature animation at DreamWorks SKG, as well as VP of animation and VP of production and finance at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Ent. Radford began her animation career with Spielberg’s animated feature An American Tail, and moved on to work on such DreamWorks Animation productions as Balto, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, and The Road to El Dorado. Most recently, she produced the Curious George movie for Universal Pictures.

“Bonne’s gift is her passion for the art of storytelling through the medium of animation,” says Jones. “We are delighted to have such a capable and talented individual as part of our team to bring this dream project to reality.”

Roger S. Baum’s Dorothy of OZ series offers up new stories of Dorothy’s adventures in the enchanted land of Oz. The first book is being adapted for the screen by Randi Barnes, who served on the writing staff of Disney Channel’s American Dragon: Jake Long. She has also written episodes of Disney’s Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, The Buzz on Maggie, The Emperor’s New School and The Replacements, as well as Cartoon Network’s Class of 3000.

Directing Dorothy of Oz is Daniel St Pierre, who has worked as a layout artist on such major Disney releases as Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. He later served as a production designer on DreamWorks Animation’s Shark Tale and cut his directing teeth on Starz Media’s CG feature Everyone’s Hero.

A new voice for the Dorothy Gale character is currently being sought by casting director Matthew Jon Beck, whose credits include Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Brother Bear, Chicken Little and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Neil Kaufman will exec produce the Dorothy pic for Alpine, which has produced a couple of live-action flicks including the recently wrapped Dark Honeymoon, starring Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Roy Scheider and Tia Carrere.

Reader Comments

• Leah Georgis :

  Monday, September 10, 2007

  Its about time that a movie is to be produced based on the works of Roger S. Baum. I can hardly wait. Just think back to Oz the way Oz was meant to be.

• John Moore : Forclifter : Honeywell

  Thursday, December 27, 2007

  When is it coming out?...
  I can\'t wait anyways. It will be OZSOME!

• Dan Filler :

  Thursday, December 27, 2007

  i can\'t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Jay Dough :

  Friday, December 28, 2007

  dude, this is gonna AWESOME!
  but John Moore over here is right...
  When is this movie comin out?...

• Roger Baum : Author : Toto Too, Inc

  Friday, July 25, 2008

  The film is being recorded at the moment.
  Therefore, I will not be able to make it to the festival this year. However, Dorothy of OZ will be in theaters October 2009.
  
  Regards,
  Roger

• Roger : Author :

  Tuesday, September 09, 2008

  Sorry. The film ahs been delayed until 2011.
  Good news: We are down to a couple of options for Dorothy: Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Alexis Bledel

• taylorneilthomas : President : TNT & Co

  Friday, November 07, 2008

  Hi Roger,
  Will you have a wicked witch? And who are you looking at to voice that?
  Best success!

• Roger : Author :

  Saturday, November 08, 2008

  Hello. I have some announcements to make. Please spread the following announcements:
  
  1. The film will be done in CGI (with a new poster on the official site)
  
  2. Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift will be availble. Most likely Miley Cyrus will suit the character better.
  
  3. The release is now slated for 2010.
  
  4. John Cusack will most likely be playing the Scarecrow.
  
  5. Dustin Hoffman for the Tin Man.
  
  6. There will be now Wicked Witch. The Jester will be taking over Oz (Martin Short recently signed onto film)
  
  Regards,
  Roger

• guest : producer :

  Friday, November 21, 2008

  Brittany Evonvich should voice Dorothy