'Oz': The Great and Powerful: Disney Plans a Sequel

On March 8^th Disney confirmed that it will be planning a sequel to the new film "Oz: The Great and Powerful."

According to Variety no plot details have yet been available. However Disney stated that screenwriter Mitchell Kapner will be able to work with what's featured in L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," which is public domain. However he will not be able to use any of the iconic creative additions from the original film "The Wizard of Oz" including Dorothy's ruby red slippers because Warner Bros. owns the 1939 picture.

The company failed to give any details but stated that it had hired Kapner several months ago to work on the sequel with the studio confident that the Sam Raimi-helmed film starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams would score a huge opening weekend.

Kapner is recognized for his work on "The Whole Nine Yards" and "The Whole Ten Yards." He also wrote "Days of Wrath."

Disney is currently developing a sequel to the successful 2010 film "Alice in Wonderland." They are also developing live action adaptations of their classic animated films "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty."

The last time Disney commissioned a sequel before opening weekend was with "John Carter." The film was to supposed to be called "John Carter: The Gods of Mars" but was scraped after the first "John Carter" film failed to profit. The company lost $200 million causing uncertainty. However this weekend "Oz" is expected to make $90-100 million over the three-day weekend.

"Oz" opens in 3,917 theaters and is rated PG for sequences of action and scary images, and brief mild language.