Return to Oz
Return to Oz is a 1985 British-American dark fantasy film directed and written by Walter Murch, co-written by Gill Dennis and produced by Paul Maslansky. It stars Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale in her first screen role. The film is an unofficial sequel to the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz, and is based on L. Frank Baum's early 20th century Oz novels, mainly The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. In the plot, Dorothy returns to the Land of Oz to find it has been overthrown by the villainous Nome King, and must restore it with her new friends Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and Princess Ozma.
In 1954, Walt Disney Productions bought the film rights to Baum's remaining Oz books to use in the television series Disneyland; this led to the live-action film Rainbow Road to Oz, which was never completed. Murch suggested making another Oz film in 1980. Disney approved the project as they were due to lose the film rights to the series. Though MGM was not involved in the production, Disney had to pay a large fee to use the ruby slippers created for the 1939 film. Return to Oz fell behind schedule during production, and, following a change of Disney management, Murch was briefly fired from the project.
Return to Oz was released in theaters on June 21, 1985. It performed poorly at the box office, grossing 11.1 million dollars in the United States on a 28 million dollar budget, and received mixed reviews, with critics praising the effects and performances, but criticizing the dark content and twisted visuals. However, it performed well outside the U.S and has since acquired a cult following. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Plot
In October 1899, Dorothy Gale still talks of her adventure in the Land of Oz, troubling her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who believe she is fantasizing. In her yard, she finds a key with an Oz insignia. Aunt Em takes her to Dr. J.B. Worley for electrotherapy, leaving her under the care of Nurse Wilson. As Dorothy is about to receive treatment, the asylum is struck by lightning and the power fails. Dorothy is freed from her restraints by a mysterious girl who tells her that Dr Worley's machines damage the patients. They escape, with Nurse Wilson in pursuit, and fall into a river. Dorothy clambers aboard a chicken coop, but the other girl vanishes.Dorothy wakes up in Oz with her chicken Billina, who can now talk. They find the Emerald City in ruins and its citizens except the Scarecrow have been turned to stone. Cornered by Wheelers, menacing people with wheels instead of hands and feet, they escape into a room Dorothy opens a door with the Oz key. They meet a mechanical man, Tik-Tok, who defeats the Wheelers and learns from the Lead Wheeler that King Scarecrow has been captured by the Nome King, who is responsible for the Emerald City's destruction.
The three visit princess Mombi, who collects heads and decides to imprison Dorothy to take hers. In a locked room at the top of Mombi's castle, Dorothy, Billina, and Tik-Tok meet Jack Pumpkinhead, who explains he was brought to life via Mombi's Powder of Life. They assemble a creature with furniture, rope, and the head of a moose-like animal called the Gump. Dorothy steals the Powder of Life from Mombi, but awakes her many heads. A girl in a mirror guides Dorothy back to her friends, where Dorothy uses the powder to bring the Gump to life. He flies them across the Deadly Desert to the Nome King's mountain. Mombi sends the Wheelers after them, but half of them are killed by turning into sand by touching the Deadly Desert. The next day the remaining Wheelers take Mombi the safe route towards the Nome King's Mountain.
In his underground domain, the Nome King tells Dorothy that he has turned the Scarecrow into an ornament. He will allow Dorothy and her companions three guesses each to identify which ornament; if they fail, they will become ornaments themselves. The Gump, Jack and Tik-Tok each fail. The Nome King gives Dorothy the chance to return home, since he has her discarded ruby slippers, but Dorothy refuses.
While Dorothy makes her guesses in the ornament room, Mombi arrives. The Nome King, furious at having allowed Dorothy to escape, imprisons Mombi in a cage. On her last guess, Dorothy locates the Scarecrow, and realizes that people from Oz turn into green ornaments. After she finds Jack and Gump, the enraged Nome King eats the Gump's couch body. He prepares to eat Jack, but Billina, hiding in Jack's head, lays an egg and it falls into the Nome King's mouth. As eggs are poisonous to Nomes, the Nome King and his subterranean kingdom crumble. Dorothy finds the ruby slippers and wishes for the group to be returned to a restored Emerald City. There, they mourn the loss of Tik-Tok until Billina notices a green medal stuck on one of the Gump's antlers. Dorothy restores him.
At a celebration, Dorothy is asked to be Queen of Oz but refuses, saying she must return to Kansas. She learns that the girl who helped her escape is Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz, who had been enchanted by Mombi. Ozma takes her place on the throne and Dorothy hands over the ruby slippers. Billina opts to stay in Oz. Ozma sends Dorothy home, promising that Dorothy is welcome to return.
In Kansas, Dorothy's family finds her on a riverbank. Aunt Em reveals that Worley's hospital was struck by lightning and burned down, and Worley died trying to save his machines. They see Nurse Wilson locked in a cage on a police buggy. In the farmhouse, now complete, Dorothy sees Billina and Ozma through her bedroom mirror. She goes outside to play with Toto.
Cast
Live action
Voice cast
Puppeteers
Production
began development of Return to Oz in 1980, during a brain-storming session with Walt Disney Productions production chief Tom Wilhite. He recalled: "One of the questions he asked was, 'What are you interested in that you think we might also be interested in?', and I said, 'Another Oz story.'... And Tom sort of straightened up in his chair because it turned out, unbeknownst to me, that Disney owned the rights to all of the Oz stories. And they were particularly interested in doing something with them because the copyright was going to run out in the next five years."The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. The element about Tik-Tok being "The Royal Army of Oz" derives from Tik-Tok of Oz, in which he is made the Royal Army of Oogaboo, and also makes frequent cries of "Pick me up!" That book was itself based on a dramatic production, The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. Murch also used the book Wisconsin Death Trip as a historical source for the film.
Murch took a darker take on Baum's source material than the 1939 adaptation, which he knew starting out would be a gamble. Between the development period and actual shooting, there was a change of leadership at the Walt Disney studios, and the film's budget increased. Once shooting began, Murch began to fall behind schedule, and there was further pressure from the studio, leading to Murch being fired as director for a short period. High-profile film-makers including George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola supported Murch in discussions with the studio, and Murch was reinstated and finished the film.
The film was developed and produced without the involvement of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio behind the 1939 film. No approval was necessary, because by 1985, the Oz books on which it was based were in the public domain, and the subsequent Oz books had been optioned to Disney many years earlier. The use of ruby slippers were a creation of MGM and as they remained their intellectual property, a fee was paid.
Leo McKern and Christopher Lloyd were each considered for the role of Dr. J.B. Worley/The Nome King before eventually being given to Nicol Williamson.
Principal photography began on February 20, 1984, and wrapped in October 1984.
Balk and Ridley were the only two child actors on set and as such had limited working hours per day. Whilst Balk did her own stunts, Ridley had a stand-in. Ridley, who was born in London, had her voice in the film dubbed by Beatrice Murch, daughter of Walter Murch so that the character of Ozma would have an American-sounding voice.
The Emerald City scenes towards the end of film had to be fully reshot, as the character of Ozma was originally dressed in a gold lace dress, which was deemed unsuitable during post-production, so the scenes were reshot with the actress wearing a white and green dress. At one point during filming these scenes, Balk collapsed due to the high temperature on-set.
Release
Theatrical
Return to Oz had its world premiere in the United States on June 21, 1985.Home media
The film has been released to VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray over the years. The initial release, to VHS, Laserdisc, and Beta, occurred in December 1985 shortly after the theatrical release, with the VHS initially priced with a list price of $79.95. Disney reissued it in 1992 with alternate cover art. In 1999, Anchor Bay Entertainment, who had obtained the home video rights to several titles from Disney's live-action catalogue, issued the film on full-screen and letterbox VHS, as well as a DVD release featuring both versions. All three releases featured an intro by Fairuza Balk before the film and an interview featurette with her after it. All three versions went out of print shortly after their release.In 2004, Disney released their own DVD, which dropped the Anchor Bay disc's fullscreen version and added anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 TVs for the widescreen version, upgraded the audio to 5.1 surround, retained the Anchor Bay disc's extras, and added four TV spots and a theatrical trailer. In 2015, Disney released a 30th Anniversary Edition of the film on Blu-ray exclusively through the Disney Movie Club, featuring a newly remastered and cleaned up transfer and DTS Master Audio 5.1 sound, but none of the bonus features from the 2004 DVD.
It is featured in the "From the Vault" Film section of Disney's streaming platform, Disney+.