The Wizard of Oz may be getting a new adaptation in the wake of the upcoming Wicked: For Good. L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been adapted to the screen multiple times, most notably in the Oscar-winning 1939 film starring Judy Garland.
The most notable recent film featuring Baum’s characters is 2024’s Wicked, which is based on the first act of the Broadway musical adapting the Gregory Maguire novel that tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West. The movie, which will be followed by the act two adaptation Wicked: For Good, was the fifth highest-grossing movie of 2024 worldwide.
In a Warner Bros. earnings call, David Zaslav revealed that a new project based on The Wizard of Oz is being eyed by the entertainment company. While discussing the impending Wizard of Oz presentation at the Las Vegas Sphere, he said that “we’re also looking at our own project around Wizard of Oz that we’ll talk about at some point.”
While the Universal Pictures production Wicked was not explicitly mentioned, the success of the movie – which won two Oscars out of 10 overall nominations – could very well be a major factor driving this decision.
What This Means For The Wizard Of Oz
While the original L. Frank Baum novel is in the public domain and is thus able to be adapted in various forms by other companies, Warner Bros. owns the rights to the 1939 movie and many of its unique visual elements, including the iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland’s character, Dorothy.
Therefore, the project that they could bring to the screen would be able to use important elements that competing projects, such as Universal’s Wicked and Disney’s 2013 prequel Oz the Great and Powerful, could not. Should this be a major live-action project like Wicked, it would be the first of its kind since WB acquired the Oz rights in the mid-1990s.
Oz the Great and Powerful starred James Franco as the younger version of the Wizard, coming to Oz for the first time.
Warner Bros. has not brought a major live-action Wizard of Oz adaptation to the big screen during that time. The primary avenue through which they’ve engaged with the property is animation, namely via two Oz-themed features starring the animated characters Tom and Jerry and the three-season 2017 Boomerang series Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.
Our Take On The New Wizard Of Oz Project
It remains to be seen if the new project adapting The Wizard of Oz comes to fruition or what form it will take. However, it could very well capitalize on the success of the Wicked movies, which have found a solid audience but have their limitations in terms of how they can connect to the original 1939 movie.
