Wizard Of Oz Remake To Be Directed By Black-ish Creator Kenya Barris

Black-ish creator Kenya Barris has been hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct a reimagining of Wizard of Oz, according to Deadline. No production start date or casting information has been announced.

Barris' Khalabo Ink Society will produce the adaptation of the 1939 classic film--all that's known so far is that his version will be a "modern reimagining of the iconic musical." Black-ish finished its eight-season run in April this year, and Barris has been increasingly making a push to work more in features. He co-wrote 2019's Girls Trip, co-produced 2019's Little, and co-wrote the screenplay to 2019's Shaft. He also co-wrote last year's Coming 2 America, which featured Eddie Murphy returning as Akeem Joffer from the 1988 film.

Currently, Barris is in post-production on his feature directorial debut, You People. Scheduled to hit Netflix sometime later this year, this film features an ensemble cast that includes Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lauren London, Sam Jay, Molly Gordon, Mike Epps, Nia Long, Deon Cole, Rhea Perlman, and David Duchovny. The film also stars Jonah Hill, who co-wrote the film with Barris.

In September, Barris will launch Entergalactic, an original animated story based on an idea by Kid Cudi. The series was first teased back in June as part of Geeked Week. A synopsis follows: "A young artist named Jabari attempts to balance love and success. Finding the latter brings Jabari a step closer to the former, when moving into his dream apartment introduces him to his new neighbor, photographer it-girl, Meadow… An explosion of art, music, and fashion, Entergalactic takes place in the only city that can handle all three: New York."

Last year, Australian animation and visual effects digital studio Animal Logic (The Lego Movie 2) was also tapped by Warner Bros. to produce Toto, a musical adaptation of the book Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of the Wizard of Oz.