The shooting was very hard for her, something embarrassing, not to mention how hard it was for her to endure all the abuse from the studio, the bad treatment received, the few hours of sleep and the fact that she had to hide her body behind a corset to look like a girl. It seems that MGM had Shirley Temple in mind for this role, after a negotiation that could not be, it seems that the actress who had her career more consolidated with the studio, our Judy Garland, won the role. Judy Garland was not the preferred choice to star as Dorothy. In fact, several studies point to the fact that, with its numerous television runs, re-releases and sales in VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and 4k quality, winning over children from a multitude of generations, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is the most watched film in history. Success came little by little and over the years ‘The Wizard of Oz’ became the most legendary live-action fantasy film in cinema. They saw something that Americans were unable to appreciate. After passing its disinterested domestic release by audiences, the film scored a notorious success in England, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and the Scandinavian countries. In fact, it was a resounding flop in the United States.
The film began shooting on October 13, 1938, with a budget of 2.777 million (approximately 48 million with 2016 inflation), and finished on March 16, 1939, having cost 3 million (51.8 million with 2016 inflation).ĭespite the excitement, effort and bad consequences/facts that unfolded during the filming, the movie was not the success it was expected to be at the box office.
Mayer made every effort to surpass the success of Disney’s Snow White. Frank Baum’s stories due to its great success, but MGM beat them to it and acquired all the rights to what would end up being the movie we all know “The Wizard of Oz” for $75,000, an exorbitant amount for the time. “ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” hit theaters in 1937 and became the most successful movie of all time in just a few months. An underrated piece of work for its time.