Michelle Williams to play Glinda in 'Oz, the Great and Powerful'

By Sarah Sluis

2010's uber-successful Alice in Wonderland created a fairy tale frenzy among the movie studios. The surest sign that there's a bubble is the two rival Snow White adaptations (Relativity's The Brothers Grimm: Snow White and Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman), which are both set to release in 2012. Disney, which released Alice in Wonderland, is also seeking to replicate its success with Oz, the Great and Powerful. The film will take the characters in the Wizard of Oz in an entirely new direction. Glinda, the Good Witch, teams up with a snake-oil salesman (sounds kind of like the Great Oz to me) and battles her two evil sisters for control of the kingdom. Michelle Williams has just been cast as Glinda, which is as perfect a choice as I can imagine. James Franco is the snake oil salesman, and Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis are the raven-haired evil sisters. Variety reveals that the movie could hit theatres as soon as fall 2012, which would sandwich the movie in between the two Snow White adaptations.

While Oz has an all-star cast of Oscar nominees, winners, and those that have appeared in Oscar-nominated films, the crew has a more variable pedigree. David Lindsay-Abaire may be a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, but he's still in the doghouse after writing Inkheart, one of the worst children's movies I've seen. The other credited writer, Mitchell Kapner, has very few writing credits but counts the successful mob comedy The Whole Nine Yards among his credits. The biggest signal of success on this project is Sam Raimi. He left the latest Spider-Man sequel in frustration, so this project should have his full attention and devotion.

I'm curious if the movie will be rated PG-13, like Spider-Man, or PG, like Alice in Wonderland. Despite its family-friendly rating, Alice drew many adults, in part because it came from director Tim Burton, who is known for his darker perspective. Fractured fairy tales are one way to convince adults to revisit familiar stories of their childhood. And when the next generation grows up, Hollywood may innovate by going back to classic fairy tales.