Mid-August 1939 Film Premiere (MGM: The Wizard of Oz); factors that give it a monumental place in film history

Movies August 15, 1939: America’s Off to See THE WIZARD OF OZ! When it comes to film history, it’s really hard to top the August 15, 1939th premiere of The Wizard of Oz at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. This epic production would go on to influence cinema in all kinds of ways. Who can forget that The Wizard of Oz is so all-encompassing that even frozen-in-ice-for-decades Captain America was able to get the reference when someone mentioned “flying monkeys” in The Avengers? That was nice. Captain America usually feels left out of things, you know. Of course, all kinds of films reference The Wizard of Oz. Sometimes it’s really blatant, like when Nic Cage sees a hovering Good Witch at the end of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart. Of course, there have been all kinds of films and television shows that have simply spoofed the movie. Futurama did a fine job, and so did Disney’s The Suite Life on Deck. We’ll also put in a nod to the schlocky 1983 movie The Being, which throws in a Wizard of Oz spoof amongst plenty of other WTF moments. But how did The Wizard of Oz perform during its original release? Well, the reviews were good. The movie officially opened nationally on August 25, 1939, and made around $3 million. That was actually a disappointment. The movie had cost just about that much–say, $46 million if it was made today. But, like Disney and Bambi, the folks at MGM Studios began to cash in on the re-releases. The studio didn’t officially cash in until 1949, when the movie came out to score an additional $1.5 million. Later on, it would become a very big deal when the CBS network showed the movie on an annual basis. People would make plans to stay at home–since this was before the days of VHS–and new generations would perpetually be won over. [Watchdog blog article from 2013]. . .