Disney's Cojones

This March, Walt Disney Studios will release Oz, the Great and Powerful, a new film directed by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man), which is based on the Oz books written by L. Frank Baum at around the dawn of the 20th Century. While the Oz series of books is cherished as classic literature for children, a fact that I'm not sure everyone is aware of is that apart from the 1939 adaptation of the first book, The Wizard of Oz, which is equally regarded as a classic and is often, in fact, the means by which many people (including myself) have been introduced to the magical world of Oz, adaptations of the book or series of books have not been particularly well received by movie audiences.

As best I can tell from internet searching, there has only been one attempt at a direct theatrical feature film sequel to The Wizard of Oz: the 1985 film Return to Oz, directed by Walter Murch and released by Disney. That film tanked at the box-office and was basically forgotten. Truth be told, the only reason I remember it is that for years it was the only "Oz" movie I had seen until I finally saw the 1939 original. As blockbuster grosses go, even The Wizard of Oz is not even particularly remarkable; adjusted for inflation, its total grosses come up to something like $400 million all around the world, not too impressive a figure considering that other classics like Gone with the Wind and The Sound of Music have box-office figures that, when adjusted for inflation, would easily put to shame most contemporary megablockbusters.

Of course, this is no indictment of the quality of the first Oz movie, but considering that the average A-list fantasy movie these days costs something like $200 million and has to earn well over twice that amount to be considered a financial success, both hurdles now facing the upcoming Oz sort-of-prequel, it's safe to say that only a betting man or a fool would take a chance on a property that does not quite guarantee the success of a movie based on more "happening" pop culture icons like superheroes or boy wizards. Oz the Great and Powerful does not even have any particularly popular actors in its roster, though the hiring of Spider-Man director Sam Raimi may have been quite a coup, as Disney are able to put the words "Spider-Man" quite prominently in the marketing materials without having to ask for Sony Pictures' permission. All told, though, the risk involved is quite evident.

The courage shown by the Walt Disney execs in taking another crack at Oz nearly three decades after they failed to sell Return to Oz, therefore, is something I cannot help but admire. After all, like just about anyone else, Disney is quite fond of sure things as shown by their acquisition of Pixar and of already-established success-stories like Marvel and, most recently, Lucasfilm. That they would take a cinematic property well past its prime and try to breathe new life into it, and hire one of the quirkiest directors in the business to do this, shows a commitment to so much more than just the bottom line that I'm certain old Walt is smiling down on the studio heads right now.