Oz the Great and Powerful

"In Oz, nothing is what it seems."

2013 2h 10m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 6,929

FantasyAdventureFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus illusionist and con-artist, is whisked from Kansas to the Land of Oz where the inhabitants assume he's the great wizard of prophecy, there to save Oz from the clutches of evil.

“In Oz, nothing is what it seems.”

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Cast

James Franco
Oz
Mila Kunis
Theodora / Wicked Witch of the West
Rachel Weisz
Evanora
Michelle Williams
Annie / Glinda
Zach Braff
Frank / Finley
Bill Cobbs
Master Tinker
Joey King
Girl in Wheelchair / China Girl
Tony Cox
Knuck

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Mitchell Kapner, David Lindsay-Abaire, Mitchell Kapner
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 13 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

292+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Peter Deming. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bob Murawski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James Franco and Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "In Oz, nothing is what it seems.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Raimi directs. Peter Deming behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Bob Murawski cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.
2Released 13 years ago.
3292+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Peter Deming. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Bob Murawski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7James Franco and Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "In Oz, nothing is what it seems.".
9IMDB entry: tt1623205 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "witch", "based on novel or book", "magic", "circus".
11Released under 43 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter Deming
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Bob Murawski
Production design: Robert Stromberg
Costume design: Gary Jones
Makeup / hair: Richard Alonzo
VFX supervisor: Bill Kent
Sound: Marti D. Humphrey
Stunt coordinator: Scott Rogers
Runtime: 130 min · 2h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $200,000,000
Box office: $491,868,548
Return: 246% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Awards

MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Sam Raimi

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-04-01
★ 2/10
Overdone movie for children, with tiring tricks thought for 3D but a poor animation that becomes boring for its colorfulness. If you are a kid, you may enjoy, if you are an adult, better pass ...
Dark Jedi2018-03-22
★ 6/10
I think I have never seen a movie with such (over)saturated and vibrant colors. Well, that is apart from the first few minutes which are in black and white as some tribute to the “original” Wizard of Oz movie. Surprisingly enough it works quite well. The sceneries and landscapes are beautiful to watch in just the right fairy-tale style that you would expect from the land of Oz. The story is pretty much a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz story. Something which does not really intrude too much for most part of the movie but becomes painfully obvious in the last couple of scenes. As for the general story it is pretty much okay. It pleased the kids for sure and I would say that is the main goal of this movie. For adults well, as I said it is okay but not really much more. The lead character can be infuriating at times with his “dubious ethics” as the blurb words it. Unfortunately he never really manages to convey that likable rascal attitude that one would have hoped for. He somehow just stays a rather bland character with “dubious ethics”. I think this goes for most of the other main characters as well. Except for the dubious ethics of course which for the other characters are either plain good or totally and without a doubt bad ones. On the whole I would say that the movie was okay but never really reached any higher than that. For a kid it was probably somewhat better than okay. I did enjoy the movie although this was mostly for the unusual and vibrant colorization and the lovely scenery.
CinemaSerf2022-04-04
★ 5/10
If it were just down to the last twenty minutes or so, this might have been quite good. Sadly, though, we must watch the first hundred to get there, and they are not so good. "Diggs" (James Franco) is a jobbing, pretty unpleasant, magician doing the provincial shows when he and his balloon get caught up in a storm and next thing, he is in an unknown land where pretty soon he befriends a winged ape, a porcelain doll and is on the path to great riches in the "Emerald City". Upon arrival, acclaiming himself this great wizard, he meets three sisters who are a darned sight better with their wands - and he is soon a pawn in their game for control over "Oz". Can he thwart their machinations and save the city from their scheme? There is a narrative here - it's about "Diggs" discovering his inner decency, but it all just takes an age to get anywhere. Franco is adequate, but no better, and there three witches - Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and the nice one we recall from the original film "Glinda" (Michelle Williams) are oddly sterile with their efforts. Too much greenscreen, perhaps? Nobody seems to be at the races here. The dialogue is bland and barring a few fun expressions and observations from his put-upon sidekick "Frank" (Zach Braff) it just doesn't ever seem to catch fire. It does look good, the monochrome to colour effects work quite well, but otherwise I was rather underwhelmed by most of this.