What Can We Learn From The Enduring Legacy Of The Wizard Of Oz?

It's been 86 years since The Wizard of Oz was first released in theaters, and in that time, it has widely been considered one of the most-watched movies in the history of cinema. So many modern expressions and cultural references come from this movie, and all this is in spite of the fact that in it's original theatrical run, it did not turn a profit.

That's not an exaggeration, despite the fact that the movie was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike at the time, The Wizard of Oz grossed $3 million (about $70 million in today's money) on a $2.8 million production budget (about $65 million in today's money). With the marketing costs, distribution costs, and all those costs factored in, Warner Bros. actually took a loss of a little over $1 million (about $25 million in today's money). It would not turn a profit until it was rereleased in 1949.

Let's put that in perspective in the modern cinematic marketplace. If a movie came out theatrically, cost as much as The Wizard of Oz did comparatively (not as much as say Gone With The Wind the same year, and less than Ben-Hur over a decade prior but still one of the most expensive movies made at the time) but did not turn a profit, would we still be talking about it now? The lack of staying power of things like In The Heights and Transformers One does kind of give us an answer.

To say that every year there are a lot of movies and shows released feels like an understatement. Beyond just the theatrical slate, which has expanded greatly since 1939, there are streaming movies and shows as well as shows and movies delivered on traditional linear television. If we take into consideration the fact that these more organized media forms are competing for people's attention with things like YouTube and TikTok, there are a lot of options out there for things to occupy people's attention.

The Wizard of Oz was and still is a great movie with a massive and enduring legacy, however audiences today only hold it in this regard because they were given the chance to watch it. In the modern marketplace, if a movie comes out and bombs at the box office, the studios will basically disown it and pretend it didn't exist, mostly so they can maximize the tax write-off for the loss. How many movies that come out now, that cost as much comparatively as The Wizard of Oz did, would be given the opportunity to get a second wind ten years later to recoup the losses in a second theatrical run? Is The Suicide Squad going to be given that chance in a few years? In The Heights? Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings?

I'm not saying any of these movies are destined for the status of The Wizard of Oz or are necessarily in the same quality conversation, but the point is that the closest to a cultural zeitgeist movie or show we will get again is likely Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame in 2018 and 2019. Like The Wizard of Oz, this took about a decade of buildup to get to that point but even those movies, as all-encompassing as the hype was and with all the money that changed hands in their release, never hit that level of influence, even now six years removed.

The lesson of The Wizard of Oz is that less is more. We should not flood the marketplace with a million shows, movies, games, or whatever else; we should focus on making a few really good things and let audiences get to know them. The thing about The Wizard of Oz that really helped establish it as this juggernaut that a good amount of the back-9 of Universal's theatrical slate is hinged on is the fact that it was given a substantial second life in home media and on television.

In the age of streaming, where we are flooded with shows from dozens of companies, nothing really stays in the forefront of consciousness for too long. Didn't a new season of Wednesday come out within the last few months? Who cares? Move on to the next thing when Stranger Things comes to an end.

Ultimately, the powers that be view the release cycle of any new media as ending with the product's release, because there is little point in discussing it after the week it releases. If the opening box office is underwhelming, a movie is a failure, and we might as well ignore it from then on.