Sam Raimi not interested in Oz sequel, maybe somewhat interested in Evil Dead sequel

Although there are seemingly many reasons to return to Oz—money, wondering where the story could possibly go from there in an only slightly fatuous way, money, that cool clock guy, moooooney—at least one person who probably won’t be making the trip is Sam Raimi, who told Bleeding Cool that he’s not really into directing the now-inevitable sequel. “I did leave some loose ends for another director if they want to make the picture,” Raimi said, with the emphasis on “another director.” He then added, “I was attracted to this story but I don’t think the second one would have the thing I would need to get me interested,” presumably referring to the shiny bauble Disney executives dangled tantalizingly just above the set every day, or maybe just the freedom from direct comparisons to The Wizard Of Oz, which the sequel will almost assuredly not avoid.

One sequel Raimi is still maybe somewhat interested in is that long-promised next Evil Dead—the old Evil Dead, that is (the new one is almost definitely getting a sequel), which producer Rob Tapert reminds everyone would more accurately be referred to as Army Of Darkness 2. Under some duress, Raimi recently suggested he’d like to work on a possible script this summer, though he also seems less than enthusiastic about it: “The fans are really forcing me into it,” he said, echoing Bruce Campbell’s own tentative comments at SXSW acknowledging he’s “heard this a thousand times” and “it may happen” (but also saying he’d be fine if his three movies were allowed to stand as is, else “it'll be me and a walker fighting some other old guy”). Look, maybe the solution to getting Raimi interested in both of these things is to combine them, have Ash time-travel to Oz, and slaughter everyone with a chainsaw. Simple, yet elegant.