Follow the yellow-brick road all the way to MeTV to catch THE WIZARD OF OZ as part of the network’s BOO-nanza event this October.
Former COLLECTOR’S CALL guest Ralph Garman and COLLECTOR’S CALL host Lisa Whelchel announced the news at the San Diego Comic-Con.
“Being part of San Diego Comic-Con for our very first COLLECTOR’S CALL panel, and celebrating the nostalgia of bringing back family television events like THE WIZARD OF OZ, was so much fun,” Whelchel told Woman’s World. “I’m always fascinated by collectors and the passion they have for the things they treasure. Meeting fans during the autograph session was especially meaningful, and experiencing the excitement and energy of the Comic-Con floor in person was truly unforgettable.”
The upcoming broadcast marks the first time THE WIZARD OF OZ will air on broadcast TV in almost 30 years.
Related: We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: THE WIZARD OF OZ Coming to World’s Biggest Screen
“THE WIZARD OF OZ is more than a movie, it is a shared American experience that was defined by the annual tradition of gathering around the television set,” Neal Sabin, Vice-Chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, said in a press release from MeTV. “We are thrilled to bring the film back to broadcast television this October on MeTV. It will be presented without any edits and will be surrounded by surprises we will announce later, making the film the centerpiece of our expanded annual MeTV Halloween BOO-nanza programming event.”
THE WIZARD OF OZ will air several times during MeTV’s BOO-nanza event, “a month long a month-long celebration of classic horror, sci-fi and family-friendly favorite films,” in October.
This time last year, THE WIZARD OF OZ debuted at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
It took “over a dozen of visual effects houses to update the movie for the 16k, 160,000-foot wraparound screen in Las Vegas. THE IRISHMAN producer, Jane Rosenthal and a team of archivists worked hard to make the movie ready for the mega screen on Aug. 28,” Movieguide® reported.
“When you see Dorothy running down the road in that opening shot and running toward Gale’s farm, you also see the full landscape and where the house is situated,” Rosenthal told Variety of the changes made. “The same thing with the props — Professor Marvel’s caravan, you only see this little part of it. But if you widen out, you see all this crazy stuff he had in there, like skulls and whatnot from his magic act.”
“We went and got the original shot list that the cameraman used,” she added. “We went through all the production designer drawings. We looked at all the props in the Warner Brothers archives and the Academy archives.”
THE WIZARD OF OZ continues to prove that its magic never fades. It only finds new ways to reach audiences.
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