125 years after L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the fantastical world of emerald cities and ruby slippers still captivates audiences across generations. With Wicked preparing to dazzle theatres this holiday season and The Wizard of Oz returning to the big screen in remastered form, the legacy of Baum’s creation has never felt more alive.
But behind the enduring success of Oz lies a lesser-known story — one involving Disney, a studio that’s built its empire on fairy tales but has long struggled to make Oz its own.
From abandoned projects and dark cult classics to billion-dollar gambles that fell short, Disney’s relationship with the Land of Oz has been as magical — and as cursed — as any story the studio has told.
“Disney always saw Oz as its missing fairy tale,” film historian John Canemaker once observed. “But for whatever reason, the yellow brick road always seemed to lead them in circles.”
Disney’s Early Ambitions: The First Attempt to Bring Oz to the Screen
The story begins in 1937, when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made animation history and turned Walt Disney into Hollywood’s new fairy tale king. Riding high on success, Disney began scouting other children’s classics to adapt — and Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz seemed the perfect fit.
Unfortunately, the rights were already secured by Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer, who would later produce MGM’s 1939 masterpiece starring Judy Garland.
Still, Walt Disney’s fascination with Oz never waned. In 1954, he finally succeeded in acquiring the rights to all the Oz books except the first, which remained under MGM’s control. The plan was to adapt the stories for the Disneyland TV anthology series.
That concept soon evolved into a live-action musical feature titled The Rainbow Road to Oz, with Disney’s own Mouseketeers — including Annette Funicello — slated to star.
| Project | Year | Planned Format | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rainbow Road to Oz | 1954–1957 | Live-action musical with Mouseketeers | Canceled mid-production |
| Disneyland Oz Episodes | 1954 | TV specials | Never produced |
| Return to Oz | 1985 | Live-action fantasy sequel | Completed and released |
However, production costs ballooned, and studio confidence wavered. By 1957, Disney shelved the project indefinitely. Only a few musical segments aired on television — fleeting glimpses of a film that never was.
“Walt loved the idea of Oz,” recalls Disney archivist Dave Smith, “but he couldn’t quite find the magic formula. He didn’t want to compete with MGM’s film — and yet he couldn’t ignore it either.”
Return to Oz (1985): Disney’s Darkest Fairy Tale
After Walt Disney died in 1966, the studio’s Oz ambitions faded — until the 1980s brought renewed interest in fantasy. In 1985, Disney finally returned to Baum’s world with Return to Oz, directed by Walter Murch, the Oscar-winning sound designer behind Apocalypse Now.
Unlike MGM’s Technicolour optimism, Return to Oz was a dark, gothic fantasy more faithful to Baum’s tone. It picked up where Garland’s story left off — with a young Dorothy (played by Fairuza Baulk) returning to a ruined Emerald City overrun by sinister creatures like the Wheelers and the stone-faced Nome King.
While the film had the eerie creativity of Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, it shocked audiences expecting something lighter. Critics were divided, and the movie underperformed at the box office.
Yet over time, Return to Oz has found cult status as one of Disney’s most ambitious and misunderstood works.
| Film | Director | Star | Tone | Legacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return to Oz (1985) | Walter Murch | Fairuza Balk | Dark, surreal fantasy | Cult classic |
Notably, Disney had to license the ruby slippers from MGM, since they were an invention of the 1939 film and not Baum’s books. That small but symbolic detail highlighted the tangled legal web surrounding Oz — one that Disney never fully escaped.
“It’s the scariest movie I’ve ever loved,” film critic Matt Singer wrote. “Disney’s Return to Oz dared to ask what happens when fantasy turns against you.”
The Muppets and Oz Collide (2005): A Musical Misstep
Two decades later, in 2005, Disney tried again — this time with its newly acquired Muppets franchise.
The made-for-TV film The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz cast Ashanti as Dorothy and Queen Latifah as Aunt Em, alongside Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo in supporting roles.
While the concept had potential — blending two beloved worlds — the result was a tonal mismatch. The humor leaned too modern, the pacing felt uneven, and fans of both the Muppets and Oz found little to celebrate.
Critics were harsh, with Entertainment Weekly calling it “a yellow brick misstep.”
“It felt more like product than passion,” noted one reviewer. “Oz deserves wonder, not parody.”
After the TV film’s lukewarm reception, Disney once again abandoned the franchise — until a new generation of filmmakers would give it one final, glittering shot.
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013): The Blockbuster That Couldn’t Quite Fly
In 2013, Disney tapped Sam Raimi — fresh off his Spider-Man trilogy — to direct Oz the Great and Powerful, a glossy prequel exploring the origins of the Wizard and the Wicked Witches.
Starring James Franco as Oscar Diggs, Mila Kunis as Theodora, Rachel Weisz as Evanora, and Michelle Williams as Glinda, the film was visually stunning and richly designed.
It became a box office hit, grossing nearly $490 million worldwide, making it the 13th highest-grossing film of 2013. Yet, despite its success, the film failed to launch the planned franchise Disney had envisioned.
| Title | Director | Box Office | Intended Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) | Sam Raimi | $490M worldwide | Franchise-starter (abandoned) |
Critics praised Raimi’s visual imagination but faulted the script’s uneven tone and lack of emotional depth. The movie’s fate mirrored Disney’s earlier struggles — grand ambitions meeting creative uncertainty.
“It’s beautiful to look at,” wrote Variety, “but feels like a magic trick performed by someone who doesn’t quite believe in the illusion.”
Once Upon a Time (2013–2018): Disney’s Small-Screen Redemption
Ironically, Disney’s most successful foray into Oz came not on the big screen, but on television.
ABC’s fairy-tale drama Once Upon a Time (2011–2018), created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, weaved the Land of Oz into its interconnected universe of Disney icons.
Introduced in Season 3, the show’s Oz storyline featured Rebecca Mader as Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West — a complex, tragic figure whose redemption arc became one of the series’ highlights.
| Character | Actor | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Zelena (Wicked Witch) | Rebecca Mader | Half-sister to Regina; central to redemption arc |
| Dorothy Gale | Teri Reeves | Heroine from the original Oz tale |
| The Wizard | Christopher Gorham | Manipulative illusionist and trickster figure |
While the series’ later seasons were uneven, its treatment of Oz — filled with emotional nuance and character-driven storytelling — finally captured the spirit Walt Disney had always sought.
“Zelena became one of the best characters we ever wrote,” Kitsis said. “She was wicked, wounded, and wonderfully human.”
Why Disney Never Quite Found Its Emerald City?
After nearly seventy years, Disney’s relationship with Oz remains a saga of near-misses. The studio has conquered nearly every fairy-tale world imaginable — Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid — but Oz has always eluded its grasp.
Perhaps that’s because The Wizard of Oz belongs to a different kind of mythology: one that thrives on contradictions — hope and fear, joy and menace, magic and loss.
Disney’s optimism often clashes with Oz’s bittersweet lessons. Where Disney fairy tales end with “happily ever after,” Oz reminds us that there’s no place like home — because home, flawed as it is, is all we have.
“The Wizard of Oz is about longing,” film historian Leonard Maltin once wrote. “And longing doesn’t fit neatly into a Disney ending.”
Conclusion
Disney’s long, twisty journey through The Wizard of Oz is one of the great “almosts” in Hollywood history — a tale of ambition colliding with legacy.
From the unmade Rainbow Road to Oz to the eerie brilliance of Return to Oz and the spectacle of Oz the Great and Powerful, every attempt reveals something about the studio’s own mythology: its endless pursuit of wonder, and its uneasy relationship with the darker side of dreams.
And yet, even with its failures, Disney’s connection to Oz feels fated — a reminder that sometimes, the stories that get away are the ones that continue to inspire.
“Oz was always just beyond Disney’s reach,” as one critic put it. “But that’s what makes the chase so timeless.”
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Walt Disney tried several times but never succeeded in producing a feature during his lifetime.
Three major ones: Return to Oz (1985), The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (2005), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).
Fairuza Baulk, who later starred in The Craft.
Not officially, due to rights issues, but it was designed as a spiritual prequel exploring how the Wizard came to Oz.
Possibly. With Baum’s novels in the public domain, Disney could revisit the material anytime — and Wicked’s renewed popularity might just inspire another attempt.
