Ron Seifried | On 06, Jul 2014

First published in 1900 by L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz has been revisited so many times, it will take a separate book to chronicle the adventures of Dorothy and her magical world. The original novel has been adapted into Broadway plays, feature films, animated projects and many, many sequels. Thanks in part of the original book entering the Public Domain in 1956, the colorful characters are available for exploitation to an unwitting public and most recently, naive investors. It should be noted that the 1939 film starring Judy Garland is still owned by MGM.

Baum himself was wary of returning to the Emerald City, but thousands of fan mail from children convinced him to continue on writing thirteen additional novels up until his death in 1919. Inspired in part by the stories of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson, Baum decidedly revisited the fairy tale without the horrors of his European predecessors.

But the world of Oz did not end with Baum’s death. Baum’s great-grandson Roger S. Baum, a former banker and stock broker, who continues the legacy to this day penning over twenty additional novels, has attempted to capitalize on the current trend of franchise rebuilding. The book in question is Dorothy of Oz, which has recently been adapted into a full length animated film entitled Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. The story details Dorothy’s return to confront a jester who has taken control o the wand of the wicked Witch of the West in his attempt to take over the Land of Oz.

The legacy has been a thorn in the Baum family for decades. F. Lee Baum’s son Frank Joslyn Baum (and Roger’s grandfather) tried to trademark the Oz name to no avail and wrote a biography on his famous father, To Please a Child in 1962 that was filled inaccuracies that alienated him from the rest of the family. He is also the family member that sold the rights of The Wizard of Oz to Samuel Goldwyn, after working on both silent film versions and receiving a writing credit on the 1933 version.

Produced by Summertime Entertainment, the film stars the voices of Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, James Belushi, Bernadette Peters, Martin Short, Hugh Dancy, Megan Hilty, Patrick Stewart and Oliver Platt. The film is also on the yellow brick road to becoming one of the biggest critical and commercial failures of 2014.

Obviously inspired by the commercial success of Walt Disney’s 2012 feature Oz: The Great and Powerful starring James Franco and Mia Kunis, the producers gambled on an ill-conceived plot and subpar animation studio on investors desires to cash in on 100+ year old franchise

It is like the team of Summertime Entertainment and Alpine Productions were the Wizard himself, the fraud behind the curtain, deceptively convincing the self-confidence laden investor group of Scarecrows, Tin Men and Lions to track down the elusive Wicked Witch’s broom for their needs of brains, heart and courage. Only this time when the story ends, nothing is achieved except for the Wizard escaping in a hot air balloon. The Wizard’s self-belief is contained for a brief moment, while the willing investors have fallen for the deceptions of the producers.

Life intimidating Art to an expensive conclusion

The Wrap has posted a detailed account of investor fraud and a series of lawsuits surrounding the latest Oz installment. What is most striking is the comments section of the article. Anonymous investor after anonymous investor still defend the questionable characters that led them to financial loss, while several lawsuits fall around them.

The latest film from the Land of Oz is now on record for the worst opening weekend for an animated film. Produced at Prana Studios in India for $70 million, the producers have gone through several LLC’s on what was originally a $20 million budget that has turned into a financial disaster.

Several cease and desist orders for alleged violations of SEC rules have been issued. A jailed con man solicited funds from unsuspecting prey. Cold calls have reportedly been a method of fundraising. Chinese investors have dumped $75 million into the flawed production.

The film producers took a page from Mel Brooks The Producers and ran away with the money.

Then again, buyers beware because the film sucked.