
Mattel's New ‘Wicked: For Good' Toys Give Us a Spoilery Glimpse at the ‘Wizard of Oz' Crew
Some spoilers ahead, as some major plot twists can't be avoided once you see more of the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and outfit reveals for Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda (Ariana Grande) as the Good Witch of Oz.Let's start with the shoes; they're clearly no longer on Nessarose Thropp's feet. That means we can assume the de facto Munchkinland mayor, who becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the East, has, er, been bodied by way of a Kansas shack to the face. The Mattel doll of Dorothy brings back the iconic blue checked dress and pigtail braids for the teen. And yet it still leaves us guessing who might be playing her.
Dorothy wears the shoes that once belonged to Nessarose and Elphaba's mother and that may or may not have magical properties. As fans of the classic storybook lore as well as the MGM technicolor film starring Judy Garland, we know the shoes—now silver as originally described in L. Frank Baum's works—are going to start an all-out war between the witches and the Wizard of Oz.
Then there's the most scandlocious of reveals in Wicked: For Good, one that musical fans are well aware of and have been holding in (you're welcome). It's a surprising plot twist that Dorothy's friends are people we have already met and have a bone to pick with Elphaba too. After getting caught in the crossfire of Oz witch drama, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) and Boq (Ethan Slater) get turned into the Scarecrow and Tin Man, with the lion from part one having grown into the final member of the yellow brick road gang. And yes, Toto is there too.
Wicked: For Good feels so far away, but these toy releases are already getting us so excited to see how it's all going to play out. Glinda and Elphaba also get new looks we're already obsessed with. Glinda gets more ballgown moments, while Elphaba's battle armor black ensemble gets a rugged and ripped look. Now we know what happened to that very, very long cape at the end of 'Defying Gravity.'
Take a look at the gallery below for additional looks at the Wicked: For Good cast through the last toy drop from Mattel.
Wicked: For Good opens November 21.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
Just how did 'Wizard of Oz' at Sphere Las Vegas take Dorothy from 2D to 4D?
LAS VEGAS – In a month, the Las Vegas Sphere will be turned into the verdant splendor of Emerald City. And the vibrant mosaic of Munchkinland. And the dusty amber plains of Kansas. It's 'The Wizard of Oz' not just as a film, but an experience. A place where the 160,000 square feet of Sphere screen transports you into Dorothy Gale's world and, through the use of 4D and haptics, immerses you in the feeling of being inside a tornado and makes you cower at the sight of those dastardly flying monkeys heading from the Wicked Witch's lair to your seat. The film, which opens Aug. 28 at the technologically sophisticated venue just off the Las Vegas Strip, was chosen for Sphere-i-fication because of its generation-spanning appeal. 'It's a movie that your mother watched, that you watched with your grandmother or your kids,' says Jane Rosenthal, the Oscar-nominated producer helping helm the production. 'The movie became so beloved because you felt you could go into Munchkinland or the Emerald City even in a traditional TV format. It's a natural for the Sphere because of the elements that can be made immersive.' The Sphere's film has been in development for two years with a team of more than 2,000 filmmakers, technicians, audio experts and AI creatives working to transform Oz from a 2D world into an extraordinary envelopment of sight and sound. Las Vegas Sphere concerts: All the bands that are playing and how to get tickets Why the Sphere's 'Wizard of Oz' is an unparalleled experience Those involved with 'Oz' wouldn't confirm the $80 million price tag alluded to when the project was announced in August 2024. But, from the near-final pieces of the film USA TODAY observed in July, it's evident this has been an exhaustive, finely detailed endeavor. From the clarity of Judy Garland's doe eyes with eyelashes that can be counted to the 16-foot-long helium-filled monkeys steered by drone operators, it's sheer wonderment. And the tornado? You'll find yourself ducking in your seat at what feels like farm equipment and animals flying toward you as 750-horsepower fans built specifically for "Oz" hurl wind and (paper) leaves around the venue. To assume the film is merely glorified IMAX is akin to saying earbuds provide the same sound quality as $16,000 studio headphones. The $104 admission likely seems steep, but not as much after you factor in the cutting-edge experience and the Vegas location. How 'ethical AI' transformed 'The Wizard of Oz' at the Sphere The Sphere team worked closely with Warner Bros. and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to mine the 'Oz' archives from its original 1939 form. Transforming what was filmed for a 4:3 aspect ratio on a standard-sized movie screen to the 16K x 16K LED screen resolution of the Sphere required the use of what Rosenthal calls 'ethical AI.' The time required to convert the film also necessitated editing from its original run time of 102 minutes to 75. The artificial intelligence in 'Oz' was primarily used to extend frames to fill the Sphere screen. Rosenthal gives the example of an early scene when irritable neighbor Miss Gulch wants to take Toto – himself given a furry glow-up – from the Gale home. 'That was originally a three-shot, but as you widen the frame, you now see Uncle Henry standing by the door. You train the AI on Uncle Henry to create him making a move like putting his hand on the door,' she says. 'That stuff was difficult to do.' The Sphere team, with the aid of Warner Bros., found props and set designs from the original movie so objects such as photos on the wall in Professor Marvel's caravan could be generated onto the screen. Every frame of the film takes 300 hours (12.5 days) to render. An edit of a few seconds might take days to fix. And then there is the equilibrium between respecting a classic and elevating it to immersive heights. Award-winning technician Glenn Derry, the executive vice president of MSG Ventures, spent thousands of hours refining minutiae such as the breathtaking moment when Dorothy awakens in her sepia-toned heartland and steps into Technicolor Munchkinland, the yellow brick road seemingly stretching into space. 'We're trying to be tasteful with these things,' Derry says. 'I don't want to distract from the film because it's one of the great masterpieces. You want people to be part of it, but balance that with not being distracting.' Emotion and revelations and nostalgia, oh my So while the cranky apple tree will hurl featherweight red orbs at Sphere "Oz" viewers, and seats will vibrate with ominous warnings of the Wicked Witch or hopeful spasms when Glinda the Good Witch soars inside her pink bubble, the heart of 'Oz' – as the Tin Man would appreciate – is intact. Derry says his favorite effect is the hulking Wizard head, which almost sneaks in from the side of the screen while pyro is dispatched in front of it. 'It's a nostalgic thing for me,' Derry, whose father worked in the industry as a machinist and physical effects expert, says. 'I love the elements that you don't notice and then you turn and are surprised.' The revelations will begin as soon as moviegoers step into the atrium of the venue, which will be converted to an Oz-like atmosphere with interactive elements (that Wizard head might have another role along with booming on screen). It's an experience that simply cannot be duplicated. 'With the emotion of 'there's no place like home' and 'Over the Rainbow,' I feel fortunate to bring this movie to life,' Rosenthal says. 'A venue like Sphere makes you want to keep going to the movies.'
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
12 Super Well-Known Movie "Facts" That Everyone Has Heard, But Are Actually Very, Very False
famous "SEX" dust cloud in The Lion King was a hidden message, but it didn't say sex — it actually spells "SFX" as a subtle shoutout to the film's special effects team. The myth of the hidden word, according to Snopes, spread after rumors that a 4-year-old boy from New York or Louisiana spotted the word "S-E-X" in the dust cloud while watching The Lion King and told his mother or aunt. However, that doesn't make much sense because how could a child that young spell, make out the spelling, or understand the word? The "discovery" was likely framed as "a child saw it" to make it more alarming and to fuel outrage by someone or somebodies who wanted to criticize Disney. is a widely circulated myth that one of the Munchkin actors hanged himself on camera in The Wizard of Oz, specifically during the scene where Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet the Tin Man. In reality, what people often mistake for a hanging figure is actually a large bird — likely a crane — that was part of the set to make the forest appear more lifelike. According to Snopes, this urban legend dates back to 1989, when the film was re-released on VHS for its 50th anniversary. OK, now, if you were watching this on video in 1989, the resolution would have been, well, shit, so it would be easy to not be able to make out shadows in the background and interpret them as something else. In the 30-plus years since then, the movie has been remastered and cleaned up several times, and if you watch it today you can clearly make out that it's just an exotic bird walking in the background. Men and a Baby was not filmed in a haunted New York apartment, and there's no ghost lurking in the background of any scene. The "ghost" people often point to is actually a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson's character, which was part of a deleted storyline. The movie was filmed on a soundstage in Toronto, not in a real apartment, haunted or otherwise. Just like The Wizard of Oz, Munchkin one, this urban legend started after the film was released onto home video. The story went that a 9-year-old boy had killed himself in the apartment where the movie was filmed and that he can be seen hiding behind the curtains as the camera quickly pans across the room. But the "ghost" is actually a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson's character (which can be seen earlier in the film). There are a few theories as to how this rumor started — like how it was the studio trying to drive up VHS rentals. It could just be that, again, just like in the case of The Wizard of Oz, the low resolution of VHS tapes, and the fact that TVs were smaller in the '80s and '90s, made it hard to determine what the figure was. a common misconception that Heath Ledger stayed in character as the Joker 24/7 while filming The Dark Knight. While Ledger did immerse himself deeply in the role — notably spending weeks alone in a hotel room developing the Joker's voice, mannerisms, and personality — he did not remain in character off-camera throughout the entire shoot. Cast and crew members, including Christian Bale, have said that while Ledger took the role very seriously and delivered an unforgettable performance, he was professional, collaborative, and able to step out of character between takes, where he cracked jokes and skateboarded. The myth of him being consumed by the role (and it leading to his death) adds to the film's mystique, but in reality, Ledger approached the part with intense preparation, not constant method acting. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the scene where Indy shoots the swordsman was not improvised because Harrison Ford was tired of doing takes of it and refused to do anymore. Ford and the actor who played the swordsman had actually trained for a much longer scene that was going to be elaborate and just be between the whip and the sword. However, Ford was combating dysentery and was not feeling well, so the night before the shoot, he approached the film's director, Steven Spielberg, about shortening the scene (as it was going to take at least two to three days to shoot) by just having Indy shoot the swordsman. Spielberg had had a similar idea, so the scene was cut down before it was even shot. DiCaprio did read for the part of Max in Hocus Pocus. However, he never turned down the role because he couldn't even accept it, as he was already committed to filming two other movies. Barry King / WireImage / Getty Images, Buena Vista Pictures / ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection It's a bit convoluted, but he was asked to come in to read for it, with director Kenny Ortega being fully aware that he was unavailable to do the movie because he was already committed to filming What's Eating Gilbert Grape and This Boy's Life. According to Ortega, DiCaprio was brought in to read for the role because the casting people knew he would be very good and that it would inspire Ortega to find the right guy to play Max. producer of Gone With the Wind, David O. Selznick, was not fined $5,000 for including the word "damn" at the end of the movie because it violated a Motion Picture Association Production Code. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," is one of the most iconic lines in cinematic history. However, Selznick didn't have to pay a fine because he didn't violate anything. He wanted to stick to the book as much as possible, so he got special permission from the Motion Picture Association to use the words "damn" and "hell" in specific situations in the film. But, just in case he didn't get the permission, Selznick and story editor Val Lewton came up with a list of alternate lines that Rhett could say to Scarlett at the end of the movie. Max: Fury Road had a script, contrary to internet rumors that said director George Miller used only storyboards to make the film. Obviously, this is not true, because it would be impossible to make a movie like Fury Road without a script. In an Oct. 2020 email to IndieWire, Miller shut down the rumor once and for all, saying, "I'm not sure how the notion that Fury Road had no script came about. I suppose it's because of the [photo of the] room lined with storyboards. Of course, there was a script! How else could we have presented the project to a studio, cast, and crew to elicit their interest?" Jackson never demanded that Tupac Shakur get an HIV test before he kissed her for their film Poetic Justice. While this didn't happen, it does have an origin; according to the film's writer-director, the late John Singleton, it was actually a joke (not the most tasteful joke, I know) he started when they were filming. The backstory is that both he and Tupac had HUGE crushes on Jackson (who was not interested in either of them, 'cause she was secretly married at the time), and he would jokingly say, "We're gonna have to get you an AIDS test for you to kiss my actress!" as a way to one-up Tupac. The joke became a rumor even before the movie was released. Also, it's important to note that HIV/AIDS had been a known disease for over a decade-plus when the movie was filmed — it was already a known fact that you could not transmit the disease through kissing, so it doesn't even make sense. had high hopes for Jaws, and knew it would be a hit (obviously not the massive blockbuster film it would become). The movie was based on a bestselling novel, and the studio believed the thrilling concept and beachside setting would have a strong appeal for summer audiences, which is exactly why they chose to release it in the summer. At the time of its release, 1975, summer was considered a dead zone for movies, with studios typically dumping lower-priority releases during those months. In the decades since, this has led to the misconception that Universal didn't expect much from Jaws. Additionally, Universal backed the film with an aggressive marketing campaign, which was unusual for the time. The campaign included an unprecedented number of TV and radio spots, which helped build nationwide buzz. to popular belief, Cleopatra was not a box office bomb. In fact, the 1963 epic starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton was the highest-grossing film of that year, earning around $57 million at the box office, which was an impressive figure for the time. The misconception largely stems from the film's behind-the-scenes chaos, production problems, and notoriously bloated budget, which ballooned to close to $44 million (roughly $460 million today with inflation), making it the most expensive movie ever made up to that point. The movie struggled to make an immediate profit due to its staggering production costs. But Cleopatra eventually recouped its budget through re-releases and international earnings. lastly, no, a disgruntled Disney employee who had just found out they were fired did not secretly draw penises on the VHS cover of The Little Mermaid — despite what you may have heard as a kid. The now infamous image, which appears to show phallic shapes hidden in the castle towers, was actually the result of an innocent mistake by a freelance artist hired to create the marketing artwork. In 1998, Snopes interviewed the artist responsible for the original Little Mermaid VHS cover to get to the bottom of the infamous "phallic castle" rumor. The artist, who had previously worked on other official promotional materials for the film — including the theatrical poster, CD artwork, and Happy Meal boxes — insisted it was purely accidental. He explained that he was rushing to finish the artwork around "four in the morning" and didn't notice anything unusual in the castle design. 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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
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