To mark the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX will be giving cinemagoers the chance to experience the timeless classic in the immersive IMAX 3D format for the first time ever. Lovingly revived and renewed frame by frame over 18 months, The Wizard of Oz is coming back to the big screen exclusively in IMAX from 12 September, 2014.
The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX®‘s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will allow audiences to feel as if they are in the movie, entering the land of Oz like never before, a few steps behind Dorothy and her red shoes, along with SCARECROW™; COWARDLY LION™, and TIN MAN™, as they go off to see the Wizard.
“The Wizard of Oz is one of the most beloved films of all time and we are thrilled that our longtime partners at Warner Bros. Pictures have made IMAX a part of this exciting milestone event,” said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. “This film revolutionized the use of color and special effects in cinema, and we’re excited to add another ‘first’ – bringing this timeless classic to moviegoers across the UK through the power of IMAX 3D for the very first time.”
The 3D conversion was a long and complex project which Warner Bros. Pictures initiated with a very high resolution (8k) scanning of the original Technicolor camera negative. The restored 2D image was then transformed by creating a depth-map of each frame to construct 3D imagery and determine distances from the viewer’s vantage point. This was followed by the long process (with the use of a rotoscope) to further refine viewer distances and fully layer shapes and objects.
Adapted from L. Frank Baum’s tale about a Kansas girl’s journey over the rainbow, The Wizard of Oz opened at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on August 15, 1939. DOROTHY™ was portrayed by a 4'11" sixteen-year-old girl who quickly earned her reputation as “the world’s greatest entertainer”—the incomparable Judy Garland. Ray Bolger appeared as the SCARECROW™; Bert Lahr as the COWARDLY LION™, Jack Haley as the TIN MAN™. Frank Morgan was seen in six different roles, including that of the wonderful “Wizard of Oz" himself.
The Wizard of Oz received five Academy Award® nominations , including Best Picture (Outstanding Production), and captured two Oscars®—Best Song (“Over the Rainbow”) and Best Original Score -- plus a special award for Outstanding Juvenile Performance by Judy Garland. The film was an overwhelmingly popular and critical success upon its initial release and its magical story and heartfelt performances have enabled it to grow from a perennial classic to its current status as a treasured icon of popular culture.
The 75th anniversary edition of The Wizard of Oz will be released on Blu-ray and DVD from 3 November, 2014.
The Wizard of Oz is the oldest film to ever be converted to 3D & IMAX® 3D.
The Warner Bros. restoration team spent approximately 16 months working with Prime Focus on the 3D conversion.
More than 1,000 people worked on the 3D & IMAX® 3D conversions.
IMAX’s Digital Re-mastering team spent thousands of hours over the past year optimizing the image and sound of the film for The IMAX® 3D Experience.
The IMAX®3D version reveals details intrinsic to the original film’s negative in more clarity than ever before including DOROTHY™’s freckles and the texture of the burlap in the SCARECROW™’s face.
The IMAX®3D release will be presented in the film’s original aspect ratio (1.37:1).
The film was directed by Victor Fleming (who that same year directed Gone With the Wind, which won the Oscar® for Best picture).
There is only one surviving munchkin, Jerry Maren, 94, the middle Lollipop Guild kid who gives DOROTHY™ a lollipop. Originally, there were 124 actors who played the Munchkins.
To make it look as if the WICKED WITCH™’s head is shrinking as she melts, her hat size was increased.
A double was used for Judy Garland in three scenes. Her name is Bobbie Koshay. In the first, at the opening of the movie, Bobbie balances on a fence and then falls into the pig pen. In the second, Bobbie is seen from the back, opening the door to Munchkin Land before DOROTHY™ emerges in Technicolor. And it’s Bobbie again, from the back, when the WINGED MONKEY™’s pick her up from the haunted forest.
All three stand-ins for the TIN MAN™, SCARECROW™, and COWARDLY LION™ are briefly visible in a couple of shots that show the trio climbing the mountain to get to the Witch's Castle to rescue DOROTHY™. The costumes for the stand-ins (especially that of the COWARDLY LION™) are the giveaway.
In the interest of enhancing Jack Haley's appearance as "all-tin, all-the-time," the make-up specialists affixed an extra rivet to his face, just between his eyes – which is much more visible in the enhanced film print.
About the 3D Conversion:
The 3D conversion was a long and complex project which Warner Bros. initiated with a very high resolution (8k) scanning of the original Technicolor camera negative. The restored 2D image was then transformed by creating a depth-map of each frame to construct 3D imagery and determine distances from the viewer’s vantage point. This was followed by the long process (with the use of a rotoscope) to further refine viewer distances and fully layer shapes and objects.
About the IMAX Digital Re-mastering Process:
The IMAX® release The Wizard of Oz has been digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX 3D Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The IMAX DMR process combines proprietary algorithms with IMAX’s in-house image specialists to remove visual noise or grain and optimize the image (shot-by-shot) and soundtrack for The IMAX Experience. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX®'s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.