Movies about the creation of some beloved piece of popular culture are a little like live versions of really good songs. Sure, it might have some extra little banter that adds a fun layer to something you already enjoy, but, in the end, isn’t it usually better to just listen to the original anyway? Johnny Depp might have put in a charming performance as Peter Pan creator J. M. Barrie in Finding Neverland, but that story probably won’t have the same legs as Peter Pan does. Still, though, Finding Neverland and Saving Mr. Banks—Disney’s dramatization of the making of Mary Poppins—got nominated for a bunch of awards, so studios might as well keep making movies about the stories behind stories that audiences are already familiar with.
Now, following in the footsteps of Peter Pan and Mary Poppins, New Line Cinema has announced that it’s making a movie about the life of L. Frank Baum, the creator of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and its many crazy sequels. This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says the project will be titled Road To Oz and that its spec-script was written by “hot rising talent” Josh Golden. We’re not sure how this film will differ from the 1990 TV movie The Dreamer Of Oz: The L. Frank Baum story, but, like most remakes, we imagine this one will either take things in a new grim and gritty direction, or it will stick closer to the books—by which we mean real life.