THR is reporting that New Line Cinema has acquired an untitled horror pitch from writer Mike Van Waes, which is set in the universe created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and his subsequent novels.
This marks the latest success for Van Waes, who has sold several pitches and scripts over the past year and a half, including the Black List script Hammerspace to Warner Bros., and the book proposal Peeves to Harper Collins, which has also been optioned by Fox Animation.
Baum’s Oz novels have been adapted on numerous occasions, most famously with the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. Other adaptations include the 1975 musical The Wiz, 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful and the NBC TV series Emerald City. A movie adaptation of the hit musical Wicked is also in development for release in 2019.
Originally published March 8, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
