Return to Oz: Revisiting a twisted cult classic from Disney’s darker period

Disney was in a strange place in the mid-eighties. The younger audiences that were once their bread and butter were tired of the old Disney fare, with many of them thinking their movies were “for babies.” Indeed, the success of Star Wars had changed the game, as family-friendly fantasy – with an edge – was all the rage at the big studios, and Disney was still stuck producing antiquated G-movies like Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. They tried to make their own Star Wars-style movie with The Black Hole, as well as a James Bond-style action movie with Condorman, but neither were successful. Their big SFX-driven extravaganza, Tron, was too costly to turn a profit, so Disney dipped their toe into darker fare, such as Something Wicked This Way Comes, and the movie we’re highlighting in this edition of Fantasizing About Fantasy Films, Return to Oz.

To be sure, Disney had nothing to do with the original film version of The Wizard of Oz, but they were able to obtain the rights to the novels by L. Frank Baum. Rather than remake The Wizard of Oz, they opted to adapt one of the sequel novels, Ozma of Oz, albeit with a much harder edge than was found in the Judy Garland original. Disney wanted to be provocative, so Return to Oz had twisted visuals and a darker tone, but in the end, audiences still stayed away, and it became a costly flop.

However, in the years since its release Return to Oz has become a major cult film, especially for those who grew up in the eighties. In this episode of Fantasizing About Fantasy Films, our own Jessica Dwyer takes a deep dive into a film she considers one of the pivotal fantasy films of its era.