The "greenified" and 1930s-inspired Universal logo shown at the beginning of Wicked and Wicked: For Good
NBCUniversal is a conglomerate of various film companies such as Universal Studios along with television stations such NBC and Syfy that have produced or are in the process of producing Oz adaptations.
Universal Studios[]
- Like Babes in the Woods, 1917 (distributed version of Violet's Dreams)
- The Wiz, 1978 (distribution)
- Wicked: Part One, 2024
- Wicked: For Good, 2025
NBC[]
- The Land of Oz, an episode of Shirley Temple's Storybook, 1960
- Return to Oz, 1964
- The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story, 1990
- The Wiz Live!, 2015
- Emerald City (TV series), 2017
Syfy[]
- Tin Man (miniseries), 2007
- Flying Monkeys (movie), 2013
- Canceled: Warriors of Oz
Dreamworks[]
In 2016, Universal bought Dreamworks Animation which previously owned the assets of Filmation and the Rankin/Bass library.
- Tales of the Wizard of Oz, 1961
- Return to Oz, 1964
- Journey Back to Oz, 1972
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)
Universal Studio Parks[]
The Land of Oz was a small area exclusive to Universal Studios Japan that opened presumably in 2001 until it closed and replaced in 2011. It featured a few attractions and characters walking around such as Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, along with Munchkins. The area had a Yellow Brick Road for guests to walk around on and a few Munchkin Houses for decoration. There was also a gift store called "Winkie Warehouse"
It only had three attractions which included:
- Magical Oz-Go-Round, a carousel
- An abridged one-act stage show production of Wicked in Japanese which was housed in the Emerald City area
- Toto & Friends, an animal trick stage show featuring dogs and birds among other animals
Other notes:[]
- This should not be confused with or has any connection to the The Land of Oz Theme Park
- This was an original adaptation regardless of any copyright and was mostly based on the books.
- The costume design featured Dorothy wearing a blue checkered dress and the Silver Shoes, Scarecrow was simply in a blue overall with a yellow shirt with makeup while Tin Man and Lion were both plush like full body costumes.
Other connections[]
- Universal intended to buy the film rights of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Deanna Durbin as a possible Dorothy but were outbid by MGM which resulted in their 1939 film.
- Raymond Russell who had roles within the Oz Film Manufacturing Company did films with the Rex Motion Picture Company which had merged with Universal in 1912. Violet MacMillan also did Universal films.
- NBC televised the 1939 movie annually from 1968-1975, until CBS bought back the rights for another 23 years. Ironically, the movie's original 1956-1967 CBS run started in competition with NBC's live airings of the Mary Martin-led Peter Pan musical.