Should we (re)see The Wizard of Oz before Wicked?

Reminder: Jon M. Chu's flamboyant musical comedy starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo is a prequel to the 1939 classic starring Judy Garland.

That's it, you have your place for Wicked ? You may then be asking yourself this crucial question which forms the title of this article: should we, yes or no, see or rewatch The Wizard of Oz Before ? We ask ourselves the question because Wicked is the prequel to the 1939 film, as you probably know… or not. The French copy of Wicked opens on screens of text which attempt to explain the film's relationship with Ozian mythology, but we must admit that these texts are not super clear (and they are displayed very, very quickly): especially since the first sequence of the film is a kind of scene cut from the Wizard of Oz from 1939, where the good witch Glinda, after the death of the Wicked Witch of the West, will tell us her true story. We then see, from afar, the silhouettes of Dorothy and her companions heading towards the Emerald City… don't panic, if you are a little lost, the flashback then begins, and the film will take care of you very well explain the whole background as he tells his story. Nothing too rocket science.

Wicked, the great show that we no longer expected [critique]

All right, The Wizard of Oz (the film like the book, but especially the film) is all the same a very American obsession. A classic that children can see every year at Christmas while France prefers traditional reruns of Tanned people go skiing and/or Santa Claus is trash. The common point between The Wizard of Oz and the Christmas double of the Splendid? After very average results at the box office, these films became classics thanks to their television rebroadcasts.

In any case, we would be wrong to deprive ourselves of looking The Wizard of Oz before, or after, his session of Wicked. Not only because it obviously allows us to fully understand the 2024 film, but also because we must remember this obvious fact: it is a true Hollywood classic whose legacy is immense, well beyond its direct heirs like Wickedas we explain here with director Jon M. Chu. From there to assuming that we must rewatch The Wizard of Oz alongside almost any film, or any series, produced in the USA since the 60s, there is only one step to take on the yellow brick road.

Everything you need to know about Wicked and the legacy of The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is available for streaming on Max, or for digital rental/purchase on most VOD services (including Première Max). A 4K Blu-ray of the film was released in 2020 and still available from Warner.