The New Wizard Of Oz Will Be An LGBTQ Remake
Kenya Barris is working on a new Wizard of Oz remake that will focus on LGBTQ representation.
A new Wizard of Oz remake is currently in the works by director Kenya Barris, who says that the new movie will feature plenty of LGBTQ representation. Barris also stated that the original movie was a reflection of what was going on in the world at the time, which was the Dust Bowl and The Great Depression, and now the current world events of LGBTQ representation will be one of the defining factors of his remake.
According to Barris, “Now we’re going to turn a mirror on where we’re at right now and take disparate characters from the LGBTQ community, from different cultural communities and socioeconomic communities, and tell a story that reflects the world.” This is certainly a different take on the Wizard of Oz, but one that many people are going to find quite exciting.
Although Kenya Barris is working on his own Wizard of Oz remake, it is not the only one on the market currently. Nicole Kassell, who directed Watchmen, is also working on her own spin of the classic tale of Dorothy and Oz. However, that movie was announced back in 2019 and there is little about its development right now, but what we do know is there is going to be more of a focus on the fantastical elements of Kassell’s version, like the importance of the ruby red slippers.
Kenya Barris has only announced his Wizard of Oz remake, and how it is going to focus on the real-world events of LGBTQ representation, so we are not sure how far along on the production front his movie is at. We would assume that now that he has spoken about the thematic elements of the story, it means that we could be seeing some casting announcements happening within the next couple of months. Although there have been many remakes of the Wizard of Oz, we are intrigued to see where Barris is going to be taking his story.
Kenya Barris is a writer and producer most famously known for Black-ish, Girls Trip, Grown-ish, and Coming 2 America. The man has quite a resume to his name and taking on the daunting task of remaking the Wizard of Oz is something that he has not taken lightly. The man joked that he hopes his remake will last as long as the classic 1930s movie has.
The Wizard of Oz is one of the most classic books that turned into one of the most classic movies in cinema history. While there have been plenty of adaptations through the years, none of attempted to change the source material that much. We are not saying that Kenya Barris is going to do such, but to use real-world events to showcase what Dorothy is dreaming about is going to be quite different.
We would expect this new Wizard of Oz movie to take some time to be made, especially considering Kenya Barris is a busy man. However, we would expect that he is going to diligently work towards getting this remake out by 2024. This is just speculation, but he is getting the ball rolling on this new remake, and it stands to reason that the announcement could mean production will be underway within the next six months.
