Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful Information

Oz the Great and Powerful is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Joe Roth, and written by David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner. The film stars James Franco as Oscar Diggs, Mila Kunis as Theodora, Rachel Weisz as Evanora, and Michelle Williams as Glinda.

Based on L. Frank Baum's Oz novels, Oz the Great and Powerful serves as a prequel to Baum's 1900 introductory novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and a homage to the 1939 MGM film, The Wizard of Oz. Set 20 years before the events of both sources, Oscar Diggs arrives in the Land of Oz where he discovers three witches; Theodora, Evanora and Glinda. Oscar is then inclined to restore order in Oz, while struggling to resolve conflicts with the witches and himself.

Oz the Great and Powerful premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on February 14, 2013, and was released theatrically by Walt Disney Pictures on March 8, 2013, through the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D formats, as well as in conventional theatres. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success at the box office, grossing nearly $150 million worldwide in its first three days.

Plot

In Kansas, Oscar Diggs (James Franco) works as a barnstormer and a small-time magician in a traveling circus. As a storm approaches the circus, the circus strongman (Tim Holmes) learns Oscar has flirted with his wife and goes to attack him. Oscar escapes in a hot air balloon, but is sucked into a tornado that takes him to the Land of Oz. There the witch Theodora (Mila Kunis) finds him and believes him to be a wizard prophesied to overthrow the Wicked Witch who killed the king of Oz. En route to the Emerald City, Theodora falls in love with Oscar. They also encounter the flying monkey Finley (Zach Braff), who pledges a life debt to Oscar when the latter saves him from a lion.

On reaching the Emerald City, Oscar meets Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Theodora's sister, who is skeptical of Oscar being the foretold wizard. Evanora tells Oscar that the Wicked Witch resides in the Dark Forest and can be killed by destroying her wand, the source of her power. Oscar and Finley are joined en route to the forest by China Girl (Joey King), a young, living china doll whose home and family were destroyed by the Wicked Witch. The trio reaches the forest and discovers the "Wicked Witch" to be Glinda the Good Witch (Michelle Williams), who tells them Evanora is the true Wicked Witch. Evanora sees this with her crystal ball and manipulates Theodora against Oscar by showing him together with Glinda, saying he is trying to court all three witches. She offers the heartbroken Theodora a magic apple she promises will remove her heartache, which Theodora eats, transforming her into a heartless, green-skinned Wicked Witch.

Glinda brings Oscar's group to her domain of Oz to escape Evanora's army of Winkies and flying baboons. She confides with Oscar that she knows he is not truly a wizard, but believes he can still help them stop Evanora, and provides him an "army" of Quadlings, tinkers, and Munchkins to do it. Theodora enters Glinda's domain and angrily reveals her new, hideous appearance to Oscar before threatening to kill him and his allies with the Emerald City's well-prepared army. Oscar despairs that his army cannot defeat the Wicked Witches, but after telling China Girl about his exploits, he realizes they can fight using prestidigitation.

Glinda and her subjects use an automated army of scarecrows blanketed by thick fog to trick the Wicked Witches into sending their flying baboons through a poppy field that puts the baboons to sleep. However, two baboons manage to capture Glinda, who is brought to the city square to be executed. Meanwhile, Oscar infiltrates the Emerald City with his allies, only to seemingly abandon them in a hot air balloon loaded with the king's gold, which Theodora destroys with a fireball. Oscar then secretly reveals himself to his friends, having faked his death. Oscar uses a hidden smoke machine and image projector to present a giant, holographic image of his face as his "true" form, and a fireworks display to attack and intimidate the Wicked Witches. Evanora fearfully hides in her castle while Theodora flies from the city on her broom, unable to hurt the "invincible" wizard. China Girl frees Glinda, who defeats and banishes Evanora, destroying the Wicked Witch's necklace that hides her true, crone-like appearance before she is carried off by flying baboons.

The film concludes with Oscar, now king of Oz, using his projector to sustain the belief that he is still a powerful wizard and keep the citizens of Oz united against the Wicked Witches. He also presents gifts to his friends: Master Tinker (Bill Cobbs), who helped build his machines, receives a camping-tool jackknife; Knuck (Tony Cox), the grumpy city herald and an ally of Glinda, receives a mask with a smiley face; the long-suffering Finley receives Oscar's friendship; and China Girl accepts her friends as her new family. Finally, Oscar takes Glinda behind the curtain of his projector and kisses her.

Continuity

The film is set 20 years before the events of the first book and 1939 film, in the year 1905. There are also several references to both sources.

Oz the Great and Powerful features several artistic allusions and technical parallels to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The film's opening sequence is presented in black-and-white, transitioning into color when the protagonist arrives in Oz; additionally, the aspect ratio changes from 4:3 Academy ratio to 2.35:1 widescreen, and the audio transitions from monaural to surround sound. As in the 1939 film, Glinda travels in giant bubbles, and the Emerald City is actually emerald " in the novel, characters wore tinted glasses to make it appear so. The iconic green look of the Wicked Witch of the West is close to her look in the classic film, as in the novel the Witch was a short, one-eyed crone. The Wicked Witches are portrayed as sisters " an idea which originated in the 1939 film. Several actors who play Oz characters make cameos in the Kansas segments. One such character, Annie (Michelle Williams), informs Oscar that she has been proposed to by a John Gale, presumably hinting at Dorothy Gale's parental lineage.

The film also alludes to L. Frank Baum's original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Scarecrow, who is built by the townspeople as a scare tactic; the Tin Man, whose creator is introduced as the Master Tinker; and the Cowardly Lion, who is frightened away by Oscar after attacking Finley. Similarly, various other races of Oz are depicted besides the Munchkins (the only race named in the classic film), including the Winkies, the Quadlings, and the china doll inhabitants of Dainty China Country. Theodora's tears leave scars on her face, foreshadowing her weakness to water. Also, Glinda refers to herself as the Witch of the South (as was her title in the novel); this differs from the classic film, where her title is Glinda the Good Witch of the North (as her character is combined with the Good Witch of the North).

Cast

James Franco plays Oscar "Oz" Diggs, a womanizing con artist and stage magician who is part of a traveling circus in the Midwest. He is whisked in a hot air balloon by a tornado to the Land of Oz, where he is believed to be a wizard destined to bring peace to the land, forcing him to overcome his dubious ethics to convince his peers he is the hero needed by the people of Oz.
Mila Kunis plays Theodora. She is a beautiful yet naïve witch who starts out as having the Land of Oz's best interests at heart, and believes that Oscar is the wizard prophesied to defeat the seemingly evil Glinda, developing an attraction to him in the process. Evanora gradually tricks Theodora into thinking Oscar has betrayed her for Glinda, ushering her transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West.
Rachel Weisz plays Evanora. She is the protector of the Emerald City and former advisor to the original king of Oz, whom she kills prior to the events of the film and frames his daughter Glinda for doing. Being a Wicked Witch, she has a hideous form which she hides by wearing a necklace that gives her the appearance of a stunning young woman. It is implied that she is the Wicked Witch of the East.
Michelle Williams plays Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. She rules and protects a peaceful kingdom in Oz inhabited by kind farmers, tinkers, and Munchkins. Through Evanora's manipulations, however, the other people of Oz believe her to be the Wicked Witch responsible for terrorizing the land. She guides Oscar to achieve his destiny of defeating Evanora after he learns the truth, becoming his love interest as well.
- Williams also plays Annie, an old flame of Oscar's from Kansas who similarly encourages him to embrace the goodness within himself. She is proposed to by a man whose surname is Gale, hinting that she may in fact be Dorothy Gale's mother-to-be.
Zach Braff provides the voice of Finley, a winged monkey who pledges an irrevocable life debt to Oscar, believing him to be the Wizard of Oz, for saving him from the Cowardly Lion. He quickly comes to regret his decision when Oscar reveals he is not a wizard, but nonetheless becomes his loyal ally.
- Braff also plays Frank, Oscar's long-suffering yet loyal magic assistant in Kansas.
Joey King provides the voice of China Girl, a young, living china doll from China Town where everything, including its inhabitants, is made of china. Her home is destroyed by the Wicked Witch, leaving her its only survivor when she is found by Oscar, with whom she forms a strong friendship.
- King also plays a wheelchair-bound girl in the audience of Oscar's magic show in Kansas.
Tim Holmes plays the strongman who attacks Oscar for trying to court his wife, prompting Oscar to take the hot air balloon that sends him to the Land of Oz.
Bill Cobbs plays Master Tinker, the leader of the tinkers ruled by Glinda. He is also implied to be the same tinsmith who builds the Tin Woodman.
Tony Cox plays Knuck, the herald and fanfare player of Emerald City who is allied with Glinda.
Abigail Spencer plays May, Oscar's temporary magic assistant in Kansas and one of his several fleeting loves in the film.
Bruce Campbell plays a Winkie guard at the Emerald City.

Production

Disney's history with Oz

After the successful release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Walt Disney planned to produce an animated film based on the first of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Roy O. Disney, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, was informed by Baum's estate that they had sold the film rights to the first book to Samuel Goldwyn, who re-sold it to Louis B. Mayer in 1938. The project was developed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer into the well-known musical adaptation starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton and Billie Burke, released the following year.

In 1954, when the film rights to Baum's remaining thirteen Oz books were made available, Walt Disney Productions acquired them for use in Walt Disney's television series Disneyland and the live-action film Rainbow Road to Oz, which was abandoned and never completed. Disney's history with the Oz series continued with the 1985 film Return to Oz. That film performed poorly, both critically and commercially, but it developed a cult following since its release. After Return to Oz, Disney lost the film rights to the Oz books and they were subsequently reverted to the public domain.

Development

The film was made without the involvement of MGM, because the Oz novels by L. Frank Baum are in the public domain. Screenwriter Mitchel Kapner was intrigued by the prospect of exploring the origins of the Wizard of Oz character. Producer Joe Roth became involved for nearly the same reason as Kapner, stating that "...during the years that I spent running Walt Disney Studios -- I learned about how hard it was to find a fairy tale with a good strong male protagonist. You've got your Sleeping Beauties, your Cinderellas and your Alices. But a fairy tale with a male protagonist is very hard to come by. But with the origin story of the Wizard of Oz, here was a fairy tale story with a natural male protagonist. Which is why I knew that this was an idea for a movie that was genuinely worth pursuing." Kapner and co-writer Palak Patel presented the idea to Sony Pictures but were turned down. In 2009, the project was set up at Walt Disney Pictures when the studio commissioned Oz the Great and Powerful under the working title Brick during the tenure of then Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook, who was succeeded by Rich Ross and later Alan Horn, a succession in management that a major studio release is rare to survive. David Lindsay-Abaire was later hired, replacing Patel, who was reassigned as executive producer.

Pre-production

Roth initially sought out Robert Downey, Jr. for the titular role of the Wizard in April 2010. By summer of that year, Sam Raimi was hired to direct the film from a shortlist that reportedly included directors Sam Mendes and Adam Shankman. In January 2011, Raimi met with Downey, but did not secure his casting. With Downey's disinterest acknowledged, Johnny Depp was then approached due to his previous collaboration with the studio in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Alice in Wonderland. Depp liked the role but declined involvement, citing his commitment to another Disney tentpole film, The Lone Ranger. The film was without a lead until February when James Franco entered final negotiations to star in the film (including a $7 million salary), five months before filming was scheduled to begin. Franco and Raimi had previously worked together on the Spider-Man trilogy. Franco received training with magician Lance Burton to prepare for the role.

Screenwriter Mitchell Kapner adopted information about the Wizard from L. Frank Baum's novels to conceptualize an original story. Raimi made sure that the film would also "nod lovingly" to the 1939 film and inserted several references and homages to that film. Disney wanted to reduce the film's production budget to be approximately $200 million.

In June 2011, composer Danny Elfman was chosen to score Oz the Great and Powerful, despite Elfman and Raimi having a falling-out over Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Elfman declaring that they would never again work together.

Casting calls were put out for local actors in Michigan.

Filming

Principal photography for Oz the Great and Powerful began July 25, 2011, at Raleigh Michigan Studios in Pontiac, Michigan, employing 3D cameras.

Raimi opted to use practical sets in conjunction with computer-generated imagery during filming. Physical sets were constructed so the actors could have a visual reference, as opposed to using green screen technology for every scene. Chroma key compositing was only used for background pieces. Zach Braff and Joey King were on set, recording their dialogue simultaneously with the other actors, whenever their CG characters were present in a scene. Puppetry was employed for a physical version of the China Girl to serve as a visual key-point for actors to manipulate. Braff wore a blue motion capture suit to create Finley's movements and had a camera close to his face for the flying sequences to obtain facial movements.

Art director Robert Stromberg, who worked on Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, drew inspiration from the films of Frank Capra and James Wong Howe to achieve the Art Deco design he envisioned for the Emerald City. Stromberg contrasted the colorful tonal qualities of Oz with the restrained appearance of Alice, affirming that although both films explore similar fantasy worlds, the overall atmosphere and landscape of each "are completely different." In 2011, Stromberg and his team visited the Walt Disney Archives during the pre-production phase to reference production art from Disney's animated films such as Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, drawing from designs and textures, in order to give certain settings in the film an affectionate nod to the classic Disney style. Costume designer Gary Jones focused on authenticity with his wardrobe designs: "We started by doing a lot of research and having ideas of the ways (costumes) should look in order to be (historically accurate) but as we went on, we really began creating a whole new world."

The production team worked under the constraint of abiding by the stipulations set forth by Warner Bros., the legal owner of the rights to iconic elements of the 1939 MGM film (via its Turner Entertainment division), including the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland. Therefore, Disney was unable to use them nor any character likenesses from that particular film. This extended to the green of the Wicked Witch's skin, for which Disney used what its legal department considered a sufficiently different shade called theostein; nor could the studio use the signature chin mole of Margaret Hamilton's portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West nor could they employ the yellow brick road's swirl design for Munchkinland.

In addition to the legal issues, the film was also faced with delays when several cast members went on hiatus due to unrelated commitments and circumstances. Rachel Weisz left halfway through the shoot to film her entire role in The Bourne Legacy, Michelle Williams was required to promote the release of My Week With Marilyn, and Franco's father died during production. Roth compared the task of managing overlapping schedules to "being an air-traffic controller." Mila Kunis's makeup and prosthetics demanded four hours to apply and another hour to remove, with Kunis taking nearly two months to fully recover from the subsequent removal of the makeup from her skin.

Post-production

Raimi had to edit the frightening nature of several scenes to secure Disney's desired PG rating from the MPAA. Sony Pictures Imageworks was contracted to create the film's visual effects.

Music

Composer Danny Elfman noted that the film's score was accessibly quick to produce, with a majority of the music being written in six weeks. Regarding the tonal quality of the score, Elfman stated, "We're going to take an approach that's old school but not self-consciously old-fashioned. Let the melodrama be melodrama, let everything be what it is. I also think there's the advantage that I'm able to write narratively, and when I'm able to write narratively I can also move quicker because that's my natural instincts, I can tell a story in the music."

American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey recorded a promotional single called "Almost Home" written by Carey, Simone Porter, Justin Gray, Lindsey Ray, Tor Erik Hermansen, and Mikkel Eriksen (a.k.a. Stargate) for the soundtrack of the film. The single was released on February 19, 2013 by Island Records.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack to Oz the Great and Powerful was released digitally and physically by Walt Disney Records on March 5, 2013. The physical CD release was in association with Intrada Records.

Release

In May 2011, before filming began, Walt Disney Pictures gave Oz the Great and Powerful a March 8, 2013 North American theatrical release date. The film had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood on February 14, 2013. Disney opened the film in wide release in 3,912 theaters.

Marketing

To promote the film, Disney partnered with the IMAX Corporation and HSN to coordinate a hot air balloon campaign across the United States beginning in California at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, stopping at four locations; the El Capitan Theater during the world premiere, the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, the Daytona International Speedway in Florida and Central Park in New York City. Disney also promoted the film through its theme parks; Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival featured a multi-purpose garden and play area themed to the film and Disney California Adventure hosted sample viewings inside the Muppet*Vision 3D theatre.

Reception

Critical response

Oz the Great and Powerful received mixed to positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes compiled a "Fresh" score of 61% based on 220 reviews and a rating average of 6 out of 10; its consensus is, "It suffers from some tonal inconsistency and a deflated sense of wonder, but Oz the Great and Powerful still packs enough visual dazzle and clever wit to be entertaining in its own right." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 45% based on 41 reviews.

Kim Newman, writing for Empire, gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and said, "If there are post-Harry Potter children who don't know or care about The Wizard Of Oz, they might be at sea with this story about a not-very-nice grownup in a magic land, but long-term Oz watchers will be enchanted and enthralled... Mila Kunis gets a gold star for excellence in bewitchery and Sam Raimi can settle securely behind the curtain as a mature master of illusion." Critic Alonso Duralde also admired the movie: "That Oz the Great and Powerful is so thoroughly effective both on its own terms and as a prequel to one of the most beloved movies ever made indicates that this team has magic to match any witch or wizard." IGN rated the film 7.8 and said, "The film is expansive and larger-than-life in scope and so are the performances, overall. Franco in particular hams it up and is often playing to the balcony...The 3D is utilized just as it should be in an children's fantasy epic such as this " overtly, but with skill. Snowflakes, music boxes and mysterious animals all leap through the screen towards the audience as the story unfolds."

Justin Chang of Variety had a mixed reaction, writing that the film "gets some mileage out of its game performances, luscious production design and the unfettered enthusiasm director Sam Raimi brings to a thin, simplistic origin story." He also compared the film's scale with the Star Wars prequel trilogy adding, "In a real sense, Oz the Great and Powerful has a certain kinship with George Lucas' Star Wars prequels, in the way it presents a beautiful but borderline-sterile digital update of a world that was richer, purer and a lot more fun in lower-tech form. Here, too, the actors often look artificially superimposed against their CG backdrops, though the intensity of the fakery generates its own visual fascination." /Film rated the film 7 out of 10, saying it had "many charms" while considering it to be "basically Army of Darkness: (Normal guy lands in magical land, is forced to go on quest to save that land.) But just when you see [Raimi's] kinetic, signature style starting to unleash, the story forces the film back into its Disney shell to play to the masses. We're left with a film that's entertaining, a little scarier than you'd expect, but extremely inconsistent."

Richard Roeper noted the film's omnipresent visual effects but was largely disappointed by the performance of some cast members; "...to see Williams so bland and sugary as Glinda, and Kunis so flat and ineffectual as the heartsick Theodora..." Marshall Fine of The Huffington Post was unimpressed, writing, "Oh, it's exciting enough for a six-year-old; anyone older, however, will already have been exposed to so much on TV, at the movies and on the Internet that this will seem like so much visual cotton-candy. Even a sophisticated grade-schooler will find these doings weak and overblown." Similarly, Todd McCarthy criticized the characterization, writing that the film's supporting cast "can't begin to compare with their equivalents in the original ... so the burden rests entirely upon Franco and Williams, whose dialogue exchanges are repetitive and feel tentative." Entertainment Weekly agreed, giving the film a C+ and saying that the "miscast" Franco "lacks the humor, charm, and gee-whiz wonder we're meant to feel as he trades wisecracks with a flying monkey... and soars above a field of poppies in a giant soap bubble. If he's not enchanted, how are we supposed to be?" and complaining that "while [Raimi's] Oz is like retinal crack, he never seduces our hearts and minds." Alisha Coelho of in.com gave the movie 2.5 stars, saying "Oz The Great and Powerful doesn't leave a lasting impression, but is an a-ok watch."

Box office

Preliminary reports had the film tracking an estimated $80 million debut in the U.S. The movie earned $2 million from Thursday night showings. For its opening day, Oz the Great and Powerful grossed an estimated $24.1 million, which is the fourth highest opening day for the month of March. During its opening weekend, the movie topped the box office with $79.1 million, which is the third highest opening weekend for a film released in March. The film was also No. 1 at the box office during its second weekend with a gross of $41.3 million. Through March 21, 2013, Oz the Great and Powerful is estimated to have grossed $155.5 million in the U.S. and $136.8 million outside the U.S., resulting in a world-wide estimate of $292.3 million. As of March 20, it is now the highest-grossing film for 2013 according to reports.

On March 7, 2013, Variety confirmed that Disney has already approved plans for a sequel film, with Mitchel Kapner returning as screenwriter. Mila Kunis said during an interview with E! News, "We're all signed on for sequels." On March 8, 2013, Sam Raimi told Bleeding Cool that he has no plans to direct the sequel, saying, "I did leave some loose ends for another director if they want to make the picture," and that "I was attracted to this story but I don't think the second one would have the thing I would need to get me interested."