Disney's Failed Next Big Thing: Oz the Great and Powerful

Since the early 2000s Disney has been trying everything in their power to recapture the magic of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. With numerous failed attempts at a new franchise they accidentally created a new subgenre of films in the process, a subgenre I like to call the “Failed Next Big Thing”. 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful could be considered one of these, because although it did well at the box office it never spawned the film franchise Disney hoped it would, and received poor reviews upon release.

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[TimeSyncS]

My understanding is that Franco was basically higher than that hot air balloon during the entirety of production and never knew his lines. Disney didn't even want Franco, and Raimi had gone to bat for him after striking up a friendship during the Spider-Man films. But Franco was so incredibly unprofessional, that he and Raimi got into a massive, friendship-ending fight, which consequently killed Raimi's passion for the project. That's why you have him blithely stating that someone else could direct the sequel if they wanted to.

That's not widely reported, though, because Raimi, unlike Franco, is a professional.

[KilamajaroKen]

One of the biggest reasons for this movie's existence was the popularity of Wicked: The Musical. At this point, the musical was running for about 10 years. Disney misses out of the movie rights as they were already owned by Universal. So Disney decided to make their own since the character's are public domain.

This also starts a trend of Disney trying to make their own version of Wicked. Oz, Maleficent, Frozen, Cruella.

Hell, they even got the star of Wicked in Broadway, Idena Menzel, to be Elsa. Let It Go is basically Defying Gravity.

[Dreadjaws]

Funny story. When I went to see this in theaters and the movie started, a bunch of people began to protest because they thought the starting scenes in black and white were a mistake of the projection. They even went to call someone and they had to be told that this was deliberate. I felt embarrassed for them. How did they not figure out it was on purpose? Particularly with the aspect ratio being different as well.

[TomWDW]

When a film from the 30s, filmed entirely on a sound stage, looks more realistic than your 2010's film... you've missed the mark, lol.

[beeman]

The most memorable scene in this film for me is the Kansas magic show scene where Joey King's character says to Oz 'Make me walk!'
Joey gives such a heartfelt performance in that brief moment, contrasted against Oz being a charlatan showman with some heart but unable to help her in any way. That scene just rang far more genuine in emotion for me than the rest of the film.

[alimfuzzy]

It's sad that, Bruce Campbell plays such a great conman, and his age would be right for the story. But always gets overlooked by the studio execs.

[yavoth]

I completely erased any memory of this film until now! What fun to revisit it with you

[constructionproduction]

This film is one of those films where you enjoyed it as a kid but you haven’t re-watched it to see if it’s still holds up to your memory

[MeganKoumori]

"I want to go see 'Wicked.'"
"We have 'Wicked' at home."
_Wicked at home..._

[jayreed]

I've spent my whole life wishing someone would adapt the entire Oz series. We have the technology for this now. Save us from yet another "reimagining!"

[OpticalSorcerer]

NGL, I put this in the "should've been an animated musical" pile for Disney.

[williamhanekom]

This film had its moments, but I'm still incredibly salty at how the wicked witch was handled. It's one thing to take an iconic villain and make them a woman scorned cliche, but the fact that she was manipulated and didn't turn wicked on her own volition is just insulting. She didn't even change that much when she transformed, which is ironic for the director of the evil dead movies.

[tylerlong]

Franco gives off conman’s sidekick energy rather than the leading man.

[ParadoxFreak]

They thought this film was too dark for a PG film? Did Disney forget they also made Return to Oz decades earlier? 😅

[gos_]

Fun fact, Disney infinity a toy comes to life game. Similar to Skylanders and Lego dimensions. Were originally attached to model characters for James Franco, and Mila Kunis, as Oz and the wicked witch. There were some concept arts of it, but it was never released to the public, but you can find some concert arts to what could’ve been.

[christiansenator]

I find it insane that despite being responsible for like 19 out of the Top 20 grossers of all time, Disney also produced enough stinkers to create this genre.

It's also fascinating how the latter directly informs the former, they retreated to such safety with Star Wars, Marvel, and live action remakes

[NoshuHyena]

The replacement of the china girl reminds me of the The Thing remake, where all the effects were bad CGI, but later on it was revealed that they were originally all practical effects and models, and when footage of the original effects reached the public, they looked absolutely incredible compared to what we got.

[davidcarter]

The Temple Run tie-in game was the superior version ngl.

[OctaviusGeorge]

You all forget this film was supposed to be watched in stereoscopic 3D and checking interviews with Reimi, it is show he took it seriously and went to school to learn everything about 3D and how to implement it and that makes the blocking, framing, CGI and photography look weird when seen in 2D, 3D was an integral part of the film and watching it without it is like watching the original Wizard of Oz black and white from start to finish without that striking transition.
(Watched the movie on 3D on the quest 3)

[Flkser]

Could you do "The Nutcracker and The Four Realms" (an adaptation of the classic Nutcracker story) next? It was also part of Disney's failed next big thing. It was kinda of a messy production from Lasse Hallstorm to direct the movie then came Joe Johnston to direct a month of reshoots with Tom McCarthy writing new pages for reshoots. Then both Hallstorm and Johnston agree to recieved a directing credit together (one of the most rare thing that's ever happen on a huge movie, often times reshoots director went uncredited due to DGA rules but not with Johnston this time) but McCarthy was uncredited as writer for some reason despite some of the trailers attached his name to the writing credit. It also had Keira Knightley in the most weirdest performance i could ever think of from her with a unintentionally hilarious voice. It failed at the box office, losing Disney over $65 million. I'd love to see you break down that failure of a movie given how huge and impactful the source material was but Disney really messed it up