In 1985, Disney released a sequel to 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, with production involvement from legends of cinema George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola. It was directed by Oscar winner Walter Murch and starred a 9-year-old Fairuza Balk (who later went on to star in The Craft) as Dorothy. With that pedigree, you’d think an ‘Oz’ sequel would be a slam dunk, but this film did not have the celebrated reaction we later saw with ‘Wicked’. When the movie was released, parents stormed out of cinemas with their kids, saying it was more like a horror movie than something for children. It bombed at the time, but has since become a cult classic, this is just the gist of the 1985 sequel to The Wizard of Oz that Disney considers a complete disaster they would rather forget - Return To Oz.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: Pocket

…

Return To Oz trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBPKgAXA-28

Guardian article ‘Hear Me Out: Why Return To Oz Isn’t A Bad Movie’ (2021): https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/11/hear-me-out-why-return-to-oz-isnt-a-bad-movie

The Hollywood Reporter article: How George Lucas Saved Return To Oz (2024): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/how-george-lucas-saved-return-to-oz-1235866485/

BBB article ‘How Return To Oz became one of the darkest children’s films ever made’ (2025)

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250616-the-darkest-childrens-film-ever-made

Interview with Walter Murch on the ‘It Happened In Hollywood’ podcast (2024): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/walter-murch-return-to-oz/id1437795866?i=1000651291941

‘Remembering Return To Oz’ documentary (2021):

https://www.rememberingreturntooz.com/

The Siskel and Ebert review (1985):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24kiDP1WRr4

Return To Oz wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Oz

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.