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The Corridor Crew comes together to praise a now-infamous 1985 Wizard of Oz movie for its combination of stop-motion and VFX work to bring one of its new creatures to life. L. Frank Baum's fantasy novel was first brought to the screen in 1910, but it's the pivotal 1939 The Wizard of Oz which is most celebrated to this day. The Wizard of Oz stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, a young girl who is transported to the magical world and tasked alongside three fantastical friends and her dog, Toto, to vanquish the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) in order to return home.

Ever since its release, there have been multiple retellings and reimaginings of Oz across television and film. These include features made to continue the story, like 1972's Journey Back to Oz, to explorations of how the world became what it is, like 2013's Oz The Great and Powerful,...

Disney's Return to Oz has become an infamous production, but the story behind it is even wilder!

As noted, Disney had long held the rights to the Oz books but didn't do anything with them. As the property moved into the public domain, there were a few attempts at a sequel. That included 1979's Journey Back to Oz animated movie, which did have the clever casting of Judy Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli, as Dorothy. But it suffered from a bad production to be a flop.

The property maintained its popularity as the TV airing of the 1939 movie became an annual mainstay that always garnered high ratings. By 1980, with Disney Productions in a serious downturn after some expensive flops, someone decided giving the Oz books another try was worth it.

And so the road to Return to Oz began but no one dreamed of the nightmare it would become.

Why...

Wicked's Rotten Tomatoes score has finally been released, and it is massively impressive even if it doesn't match the score that The Wizard of Oz received. The Wizard of Oz is one of the most beloved movies of all time, and for this reason, the idea of making a feature film adaptation of the musical Wicked is a bit scary. While the original play could be viewed separately, it will be impossible not to compare Wicked to The Wizard of Oz, although Rotten Tomatoes is already suggesting that the comparisons may not be that bad.

The Wicked Rotten Tomatoes score is now public knowledge, and as of the writing of this article, the 2024 musical is sitting at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is incredibly impressive, with the immensely high score being shocking for many audience members who have had problems with the film's trailers and marketing materials. The film has...

The Wizard of Oz remains the most-watched movie of all time and is considered the best-remembered adaptation of L. Frank Baum's Oz stories. Although an official sequel was never made, Journey Back to Oz, an animated musical released in 1972, serves as a spiritual successor to the original film. Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland's daughter, voiced Dorothy in Journey Back to Oz, following in her mother's footsteps at age 16 and making it her official debut film role.

The Wizard of Oz is one of the most famous movies of all time, and it turned its young star, Judy Garland, into a Hollywood icon, but it spawned an unofficial sequel starring her daughter, Liza Minnelli, that has been completely forgotten. The classic 1939 adaptation of L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz follows farm girl Dorothy Gale (Garland) as she's transported by a tornado to the fantastical Land of Oz.

Lindsey Anderson Beer, writer and director of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, hopes her script for a sequel to The Wizard of Oz gets made after being proud of the dark yet whimsical tone she achieved. The success of previous films and adaptations set in the magical land of Oz suggests that Beer's version of a sequel would be well-received by audiences. Beer is also working on a Sleepy Hollow reboot, drawing inspiration from the original short story and delving deeper into its mythology and true ghost stories from the Hudson Valley.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines writer and director Lindsey Anderson Beer would love to see a The Wizard of Oz sequel she penned come to life. Beer, who recently made her directorial feature debut with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines - a prequel to Stephen King's classic horror novel Pet Sematary - has served as a writer on numerous projects, including Sierra...

Kayti Burt Aug 25, 2019

The most beloved Wizard of Oz adaptation of them all is celebrating its 80th anniversary, but there have been many, many others.

MGM's The Wizard of Oz, one of the most inescapable and beloved fantasy films of all time, celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. A yearly staple of broadcast television, a true landmark in cinema history, and a broadcast TV tradition of appointment viewing for families for decades, it's easily the most well known adaptation of L. Frank Baum's book series. But there are many more.

In addition to the various stage and book adaptations Baum's Oz has inspired — we'd be remiss not to mention Gregory Maguire's Wicked and the subsequent beloved musical adaptation — The Wizard of Oz has been a staple of cinema history from the form's very inception.

We're taking some time to look back at some of the on-screen Oz...

This summer marked the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, and it was a big enough occasion that Warner Bros. not only retrofitted the classic fantasy film for a one-week IMAX 3D re-release but also spent $25m on marketing its brief return to theaters. Meanwhile, there’s absolutely no fanfare at all for the movie’s sequel, which also has a special birthday this year. No, I’m not referring to Return to Oz (which likely also won’t get much notice for its 30th anniversary next summer). There is another “Oz” movie that was more directly intended to be an official follow-up to the 1939 version, an animated feature titled Journey Back to Oz, which hit theaters on this day back in 1974. Aside from taking place soon after The Wizard of Oz and being mostly yet loosely adapted from L. Frank Baum’s second Oz book, “The Marvelous Land of Oz,” the...

Dead at 99: Opera star and Crosby's ex-girlfriend in 1944 Best Picture Oscar winner Risë Stevens, the Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano that moviegoers remember as Nelson Eddy's romantic partner in Roy Del Ruth's 1941 musical The Chocolate Soldier and as Bing Crosby's ex-girlfriend in Leo McCarey's 1944 Oscar-winning blockbuster Going My Way, died on Wednesday, March 20, at her Manhattan home. The former singer was 99 years old. (Pictured above: Stevens in her most famous operatic role, that of Bizet's anti-heroine Carmen.) Born in The Bronx, New York City, Stevens sang at the Metropolitan from 1938 to 1961; among her most popular roles were Dalila in Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Mignon in Ambroise Thomas' opera of the same name, and most notable of all, the lead in Bizet's Carmen. After leaving the stage, she became an arts administrator with the Met and president of the Mannes College of Music.

With Oz: The Great and Powerful hitting movie theaters today and having just remembered one of the all time greats The Wizard of Oz with the season premiere of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" I thought we'd honor the land of Oz, the now 113 year old creation of L Frank Baum with this week's edition of Posterized.

The Wizard of Oz (1939), Journey Back to Oz (1974), The Wiz (1978)

Under the Rainbow (1981), Return to Oz (1985), Wild at Heart (1990)

Wicked (stage musical, 2004), The Muppets Wizard of Oz (2005), Tin Man (miniseries, 2011)

I'm sure I'm missing some titles that spin heavily from the Oz myth but I came up with nine entertainments, preceding Oz: The Great and Powerful so let's discuss. (If you can think of more like Wild at Heart or Under the Rainbow that trade heavily on Oz imagery or history, without being 'Land of Oz' films, do share.) 

How many have you seen?...

We've droned on about all the trends in Hollywood these days (wrote an entire article about it here yesterday, in fact)—remakes being at the top of the list. One of the trends that always confounds us, however, is when studios, in their finite wisdom, decide to remake seminal classics that have stood the test of time.

There's a reason these films stand the test of time…because they were so good that they transcend decades and generations. And when they get remade, they are diminished just a little bit. So far, Hollywood has resisted remaking Citizen Kane or Gone with the Wind; still, there have been rumblings about John Travolta being involved in a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid remake (we'll just say it: bad idea).

Now comes word from the Los Angeles Times that Warner Brothers is mulling two possible 'Wizard of Oz' films.

You heard us correctly.