Film & TV News
Documentary Tracking the Creation of The Wizard of Oz Film to Have 2026 Release
Chess on Broadway’s Danny Strong and Leonardo DiCaprio is on the producing team.
Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.
A new documentary will dig into the making of the 1939 cinema classic movie musical The Wizard of Oz, reports Variety. The project is coming from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, Chad A. Verdi’s Verdi Productions, and Danny Strong, currently represented on Broadway with the newly revised book to Chess. The project is expecting a 2026 release.
The film will reportedly use never-before-seen material to explore how the American fairy tale so iconically made its way to the screen, along with its enduring legacy in the decades since its initial release. The film, an MGM production that starred Judy Garland in her most famous screen role, is far and away the most famous dramatization of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and has helped the popularity of its story endure alongside the film itself.
Notably, Broadway (and now Hollywood’s) Wicked is a prequel to Baum’s novel. But the 1939 film is so iconic that its shadow looms large on all other takes on the story. Elphaba’s green skin originates from the MGM film, which painted Margaret Hamilton, its Wicked Witch of the West, green as a way to make better use of the then-nascent full-Technicolor film—which also saw Dorothy’s silver slippers becoming ruby red. From Elphaba’s green skin to Dorothy’s blue gingham dress to Glinda’s bubble—the MGM version of Baum’s tale still informs the current Broadway and big screen versions of Wicked.
Aside from its impact on Wicked and other works, MGM’s The Wizard of Oz is a true cultural touchstone. Lines from the screenplay—including “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” and “There’s no place like home,” amongst others—have all entered the American lexicon. DiCaprio, Verdi, and Strong’s documentary certainly won’t be the first to explore the making of the cinema classic, though it appears the team seeks to make this new effort a definitive and all-encompassing one.
