Australian animation and visual effects digital studio Animal Logic has been tapped by Warner Bros. to produce Toto, a musical adaptation of the book Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of the Wizard of Oz according to . No release date has yet been announced.
The film, based on the 2017 children’s book of the same name from author Michael Morpurgo, retells the classic The Wizard of Oz story but from the dog Toto’s perspective. This being a musical, it’s safe to assume that the film will not subscribe to the widely held belief that dogs cannot understand English but only tones.
This version comes from writer John August (the recent live-action Aladdin, the 2010 Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie adaptation), and will be directed by Alex Timbers (Mozart in the Jungle). Animal Logic has worked on animated features including The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, and Happy Feet.
Additionally, since the publication of the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, there have been many reboots, remakes, and reinterpretations–this upcoming film continues that tradition, but is not even the only new version currently in the works. It was also announced on Tuesday that Nicole Kassell (The Woodsman, HBO’s Watchmen) .
