It didn’t take long for director Sam Raimi to find some big job offers after Spider-Man 4 was trashed by Sony. Raimi has been attached to a new take on the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz for Walt Disney, and also to the movie adaptation of video game property, World of Warcraft, leaving him needing to make a big decision.

Since Raimi was hired on to this new venture, titled Oz: The Great and Powerful, it appeared that it would be the next movie he made, but official confirmation on his commitment was still needed. This bring us to this very moment, where Raimi has indeed informed Disney that he’s ready, willing, and able to head to the land of Oz.

The hopes have always been for Robert Downey Jr. to start in this new Oz, which has been said to center around the wizard himself, before he’s whisked off to the magical world. David Lindsay-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart) is currently working on a new rewrite of the scrip, so we won’t know for sure what the story will entail until he finishes and the script is approved. Downey Jr. is said to still be in negotiations, but that his participation is looking very promising.

Disney’s plan is for Raimi to begin production on Oz: The Great and Powerful at some point next year, so more details regarding this project should be coming to surface soon enough.

As for World of Warcraft, this isn’t to say Raimi won’t be doing that. It appears that movement on that project is still quite a ways off, so the director will play around in Oz for a bit and then see where things stand.

[Source: Deadline]