LOS ANGELES: Nearly 75 years after “The Wizard of Oz,” Disney has crafted a new story about the magical kingdom, by going back to its creator — in what is tipped to be a blockbuster movie opening this weekend.
Walt Disney long sought to make a film about Oz, the imaginary land created by American author L. Frank Baum in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in 1900, after MGM made its own version in 1939. But the project never got off the ground, and it was Sam Raimi, director of the hit “Spider-Man” and “Evil Dead” trilogies, who has finally brought it to life for Disney’s company as “Oz the Great and Powerful.”
The new film is not a remake of Victor Fleming’s masterpiece, but more a prequel that recounts events before those told in “The Wizard of Oz,” based on Baum’s original novel. “Every filmmaker knows when you make a book into a movie, the first thing you have to do is kill the book, unfortunately. You’ve got to recreate it,” Raimi told reporters ahead of the film’s release. “But I decided I could be truest to the fans of Baum’s great work if I recognized what was great and moving and touching and most effective about those books to me... and put as much of that into this picture as I could.”
The film — in which the character of Dorothy, played in the earlier version by Judy Garland, does not appear — focuses on Oscar Diggs (played by James Franco), a small-town circus magician transported to Oz by a tornado.
There, he meets three witches who see in him a wizard capable of saving the kingdom. Happy to be showered with power and riches, Diggs plays along with the misperception, until his lies begin to catch up with him. The film includes several bravura segments, including the opening scenes in black and white and the switch to color when Oz arrives — an idea taken from the 1939 movie, watched by generations of children.
Disney revisits Oz to tell new magical tale
Disney revisits Oz to tell new magical tale
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
