With a close eye on the likes of Disney's Alice In Wonderland, Oz The Great And Powerful and Maleficent, Fox is now getting into the big-budget fairy tale game. The studio is putting together a new take on **Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves. Jayson Rothwell (Silent Night) has written the screenplay.
The original Ali Baba comes from The Thousand And One Nights. It tells of the poor woodcutter who learns the words "Open Sesame" and gains accidental entry to a cave containing the secret stash of a large gang of robbers. The 40 fiends then set off in pursuit of Ali, who has to use his wits to survive.
As is often the case with these things, the story in its pure form is often eye-wideningly violent. Fox's version, however, planned as a "four quadrant tentpole", will be "an adventure with strong comedic undertones". So we should probably not expect the boiling oil or the quartering.
Levy is currently in post-production on Night At The Museum: The Secret Of The Tomb, which is out on December 19. The IMDb lists him as also having north of 40 more projects in development - including the Minecraft movie - either as a director or producer, so whether Ali Baba is up next remains to be seen...