‘Return to Oz’ Movie: Six Things That Happened During the Making of the 1985 Controversial Cult Sequel

Return to Oz might have been the sequel no one was looking for, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t capture the attention of moviegoers all across the country. Released 46 years after the original film The Wizard of Oz, in this version, Dorothy returns to Oz only to discover it's in ruins. Now she must team up with friends, both old and new, and try to get the magical land back to what it once was. 

The film was the third-ever follow-up to The Wizard of Oz, preceded by the 1972 animated feature Journey Back to Oz (with Liza Minnelli voicing Dorothy in place of mother Judy Garland) and the 1978 film The Wiz, inspired by the Broadway musical of the same name. Unfortunately, all three failed at the box office, but the filmmakers certainly gave Return to Oz a valiant try, as these six behind-the-scenes facts will reveal. 

1. ‘Return to Oz’ was inspired by two L. Frank Baum books 

The plot of Return to Oz might seem a little outlandish, but parts of it were pulled from Baum’s second and third The Wizard of Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. These novels included the characters of Jack Pumpkinhead, Mombi, Billina, the Wheelers, Tik Tok, and Nome King. The movie also utilized the ideas of a princess with removable heads, the flying sofa, the quest to find Princess Ozma and Mombi’s powder of life. 

2. The film made Disney history 

Released in 1985, Return to Oz was the first ever Disney film to use the logo with the rainbow going over the blue castle. This would later become a staple in the production company’s movie intros. 

3. Disney had to pay to use Dorothy’s ruby slippers 

Since Dorothy’s ruby slippers were not in the original book but were instead added in by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) when they produced The Wizard of Oz (1939), Disney had to pay MGM royalties to use them in Return to Oz. MGM had decided to make them red instead of silver — like in the book — to take advantage of the newly developed technicolor that they used in the film. 

After filming wrapped on Return to Oz, though, Fairuza Balk — who plays Dorothy Gale — got to keep a pair. 

4. Director Walter Murch got fired from ‘Return to Oz’

One week into filming, Disney decided to fire director Walter Murch. Upon learning this, Murch reached out to director/producers Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (of Star Wars fame) to help him get rehired. Lucas himself even offered to fill in should they find Murch's directing style not up to par. 

While Disney decided to hire Murch back, they nonetheless gave the film a limited promotion budget and a short in-theater release schedule. It is the one and only film Murch directed. 

Lucas, on the other hand, did visit the set from time to time, leading him to meet producer Rick McCallum, who helped him get the Star Wars prequels off the ground. 

5. Jack Pumpkinhead inspired this famous character

Jack Pumpkinhead might have seemed scary to everyone else, but not Tim Burton. The director actually said that Jack Pumpkinhead was the inspiration for his very famous cartoon character, Jack Skellington of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). We can totally see the resemblance!

6. The cameos in ‘Return to Oz’ weren’t always planned 

While viewers were delighted to see the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, and Cowardly Lion pop up on their screens in Return to Oz, it wasn’t enough for the scriptwriters. Originally, they wanted the three classic characters to have much larger roles, but due to budget cuts, that idea was cut. 

None of the main cast from The Wizard of Oz reprised their roles for the cameos, either. In fact, only two of the movie's original cast were still alive when this film was released: Ray Bolger (who played Hunk and the Scarecrow) and Pat Walshe (who played the lead flying monkey). Margaret Hamilton (who played Miss Gulch and The Wicked Witch of the West) was alive during the production of Return to Oz but died a month before the movie was released. 

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