Is Disney Sub-Making 'Wicked'?

Spoilerish: Some Major Disney films of the past few years have peculiar parallels to the Broadway Smash 'Wicked', proving Disney's feud with 'The Wizard of Oz' endures!

First, Some History...

The 1939 Classic 'The Wizard of Oz' was made by rival studio MGM as an attempt to cash in on Disney's 1937 breakthrough technicolor smash 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs'.

They Changed a Few Things from the novel, 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum:

Judy Garland (left) was cast as Dorothy Gale, although Shirley Temple (far right) was rumored to be cast as Dorothy, who was imagined and illustrated as a child in the novel. MGM thus created parallels to the teenaged Snow White.

This is how Dorothy looked in the books...

They even considered making the Wicked Witch Sexy to ape the Evil Queen from Snow White...

Gale Sondergaard had to be replaced with Margaret Hamilton, after the creators were reminded 'bad witches are ugly', and Sondergaard declined the artistic change.

'The Wizard of Oz' was a Commercial and Critical juggernaut

'The Wizard of Oz', the story of a teenage girl who befriends some brainless, cowardly and heartless man-beasts, and is at the mercy of two powerful witches and a con artist, was nominated for several Academy Awards, winning 3, and has gone on to influence many aspects of American Culture...

'The Wizard of Oz' becomes The Great American Fairy Tale...

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A Cultural Meme...

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'Friend of Dorothy' becomes code in gay communities, Judy Garland the first gay Icon, and The Rainbow an iconic symbol of the gay and lesbian rights movement.

Rock Stars have been inspired by 'Oz'

Halloween cannot escape 'Oz'

And it seems Disney can't forget it either...

'Return to Oz' was a 1985 dark, non-musical sequel to 'The Wizard of Oz' made by the Disney company, but failed to capture the success of the original, though they allowed Dorothy to be a little girl again, which makes the movie even more traumatizing...

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The Same Year Disney & MGM came together to expand Disney World with The Disney MGM Studios. 'The Wizard of Oz' was featured at the Disney park in 'The Great Movie Ride'...eventually the partnership soured with law suits and Disney renamed the park 'Disney's Hollywood Studios' in 2008.

In 1995 'Wicked' was published

A reimagining of the Story of 'Oz', but from the perspective of The Wicked Witch of The West, now named Elphaba.

Universal Studios points 'Wicked' towards Broadway

It is almost developed into a movie by Universal Studios, but a plan for a Broadway musical goes forward instead.

Universal had been unsuccessfully down the Yellow Brick Road before with 'The Wiz', its own re-imagining of 'The Wizard of Oz', but with an all African-American cast.

On October 30th, 2003, 'Wicked' Successfully Launches on Broadway, starring Indina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth

A story of 'Oz' once again becomes a smash hit, winning 3 Tony awards and eventually becoming the 11th longest running Broadway Show of all time. The musical focuses on Elphaba (Indina Menzel), a magical girl who is really just misunderstood, especially when compared to the perky popular girl, Galinda--The Good Witch of the North (Kristen Chenoweth). She has a magical fit and runs away, leaving everyone to assume she's Wicked. She finds redemption through her unlikely friendship with Galinda.

In 2005, Disney Pumps Out yet Another Emerald Spin Off

Direct to DVD retelling of 'The Wizard of Oz', but now with Muppets!

'Wicked's' Relevance Grows Beyond Broadway...

The show became a Touring Sensation and the songs and images of 'Wicked' begin showing up on hit TV shows such as Glee & Ugly Betty.

Soon, inspired by The Disney Vault comes...

Described as a sequel to 'Alice in Wonderland' (arguably the literary Mother of Baum's 'Oz'), a teenaged Alice is at the mercy of two powerful women and some con artists and has a friendship with the Mad Hatter of a stature not present in the novel or even the 1951 Disney film, but more akin to Dorothy's relationship with The Scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz'...But it gets curioser and curioser...

Universal talks of a film version of The 'Wicked' Musical, but Disney isn't sleeping...

A Decade into 'Wicked's' run, 'Oz, the Great And Powerful' is released by Disney Studios as a non-musical prequel to 'The Wizard of Oz', this time from the perspective of the Witches and Wizard of Oz!

Then, To Pour More Cold Water on 'Wicked'...

Frozen, a Musical reinterpretation of 'The Snow Queen' by Hans Christian Anderson, is the story of a magical girl named Elsa (voiced by Wicked's Elphaba originator Indina Menzel), who is really just 'misunderstood', especially when compared to her perky sister Anna. She has a magical fit and runs away from the town which now sees her as a witch, only to find redemption through the love of her sister.

The Titling of 'Wicked' Alone seems Influential...

Along with 'Frozen', Is it just a coincidence that most of Disney's female-focused films of the past few years have been titled with character descriptions as opposed to their names a la 'Wicked'? i.e. 'Tangled' isn't allowed to be called 'Rapunzel' in the way of 'Cinderella' and 'Pocahontas'.

And while a 'Wicked' movie still awaits production...

Disney is set to release another film about a famous green witch who torments teenage girls. 'Maleficient' is to be a retelling of Disney's 1959 'Sleeping Beauty', but this time from the perspective of the witch who curses the princess.

So, inconclusion...

MGM ups Disney by Disneyfying 'Oz'...and Disney WILL. NEVER. FORGET!

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Some rivalries never die!

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