ETERNALLY WICKED

'For Good' is more than just Hollywood franchise fodder - it has timeless, box office-friendly appeal. Micha Frazer-Carroll examines the enduring love affair with 'The Wizard of Oz'

-  Micha Frazer-Carroll

The Wizard of Oz was the first film I ever watched start to finish, around the age of two. In the years following, I would, I’m told, watch it on repeat. Metro Goldwyn-Mayer’s roaring lion, and the sepia serif title credits; a pigtailed Judy Garland holding on to a rusty hay rake; the brown house landing in Oz, its door opening to reveal Technicolor flowers and bright yellow brick: these are some of my very earliest memories. And I'm not alone. They feel primordial, universal, almost eternal.

In the 86 years since The Wizard of Oz first arrived on screens, there have been countless adaptations, spin-offs, and reimaginings. The latest of these is Jon M Chu's Wicked: For Good. Reviews have been lukewarm, but the film, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is nonetheless tipped to have the biggest-ever opening for a Broadway musical film adaptation. For Good is a Wizard of Oz adaptation in a second-cousin sort of way -the second part of a film version of a stage musical adaptation of a novel, which is arguably a spin-off of a film, which itself is the spin-off of the original book series and Broadway musical.

The enduring appeal of The Wizard of Oz is particularly curious in our current cinematic landscape, wherein audiences complain about fatigue at intellectual property recycling, of dismal reboot culture. Wicked comes amidst a sea of other franchises, sequels, prequels, reboots and other opportunistic attempts to cash in on nostalgia. But it also stands apart, enjoying the same sort of phenomenal popularity that The Wizard of Oz managed in the early 20th century. Why is this the case? There are many possible reasons.

American author L Frank Baum's