Spawn creator Todd McFarlane recently told of his plans to update L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz to IGN. According to the article, Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow are using McFarlane’s twisted toy line as the inspiration for the project, which has been written with History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson.

If you’re not familiar with McFarlane or his work, the comic creator made a killing in merchandising with a toy studio which put it out extremely detailed, high quality (and pretty deranged) versions of everything from McFarlane’s comic book creation Spawn to new takes on the old Universal monsters. His new Oz take finds Dorthy into a sexy bondage number (though McFarlane isn’t sure it will appear in the film for long), and his take on the Cowardly Lion – seen above – is more fear-inducing than fearful.

Interestingly enough, McFarlane has envisioned the project as PG-13 from the get-go. “There’s a lot of money on the table and they have to get what they want,” McFarlane said. “But that said, we’ve seen a marked movement in films with The Grudge, The Ring and The Lord of the Rings. Those are PG-13 movies, but to me they’re right up against that R edge in terms of tonality. So you can still do dark and do PG-13.”

Most horror buffs see PG-13 as the kiss of death, but I think McFarlane is right to aim his venerable creations at the teen audience, who might left out in the dark in the case of an R-rating. Though much of McFarlane’s work contains an edginess, his sight has always been more on the next generation rather than his own.

McFarlane is expected to be a producer on the film, which according to McFarlane could take up to three years to make – perhaps to include for concept work. Its clear this is one project that’s not pushing into the strike.