‘Wicked’ and Hollywood’s Bumpy Road to Oz

Story by Jackie Strause

Image from The Hollywood Reporter

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The long and winding road to adapt 'The Wizard of Oz' stories for the big screen, with 'Wicked' poised to finally break through as the blockbuster Hollywood has been searching for.

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The Wizard of Oz' books have long struggled to find success in Hollywood, with most adaptations failing to match the enduring popularity of the 1939 film - until now, with the highly anticipated 'Wicked' musical adaptation set to defy gravity at the box office.
While the original Oz books by L. Frank Baum were seen as too simplistic for modern audiences, the revisionist 'Wicked' story by Gregory Maguire aged up the material with darker themes and moral complexity, making it more appealing to today's moviegoers.

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Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jon M. Chu, Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, Gregory Maguire, Victor Fleming, Judy Garland, L. Frank Baum, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Larry Semon, Liza Minnelli, Mickey Rooney, Margaret Hamilton, Sidney Lumet, Joel Schumacher, Charlie Smalls, William F. Brown, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Quincy Jones, Walter Murch, Fairuza Balk, Sam Raimi, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Filmation, Universal Studios, Disney, MGM, Oz Film Manufacturing Company, Wicked, West Side Story, The Color Purple, Wonka, In the Heights, Cats, The Wizard of Oz, Journey Back to Oz, The Wiz, Return to Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful

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