Sam Raimi off to see the Wizard?

Vulture has an exclusive report this morning that Sam Raimi may take the director’s reins for Oz, The Great and Powerful, a prequel to the beloved 1939 classic.

Sam Mendes and Adam Shankman had both been speculated as contenders for the job, but insiders tell us that Raimi received the official offer earlier this morning. The project is written by Mitchell Kapner (Romeo Must Die), and Joe Roth ‚Äî who, of course, used to run Disney’s studio back in the 1990s ‚Äî is producing; Disney wants to start filming sometime this year.

It’s unclear if Raimi will accept… in January it became clear that Raimi would not be directing Spider-Man 4, leaving his next picture an open question.

I’ve heard the opening scenes are set in a Kansas circus featuring flying monkeys, lions, tigers and bears (see where this is going?), and a bewitching beauty with emerald eyes and ruby lips (get the picture?). After a few more key ingredients are established, a hot-air balloon is swept away during a furious gale, depositing a familiar huckster in a faraway land where he’s greeted by its unusual residents like the second coming of a legendary messiah.

A couple of days ago EW, Gawker and dozens of other sites were all aflutter with the possibility of Robert Downey Jr. playing the Wizard in the velvet frock coat. A few weeks back Deadline provided excellent basis for the sudden flurry of interest:

Disney has come through the rabbit hole and pronounced that the Tim Burton-directed 3D conversion Alice in Wonderland surpassed the $1 billion mark in global box office. For non-sequels, that puts the picture behind only Titanic and Avatar.

Given that happy ending, it’s small wonder that Disney and other studios have placed a premium on public domain fairy tales.

Emerald isn’t the only shade of green that has Disney excited.