As Oz The Great and Powerful continues to dominate the box office, news is just in that a certain Oz-based animated film will now be known by a different name.
The film, formerly known as Dorothy Of Oz will now be called Legends Of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. The
film is another retelling of L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and was originally due for release in 2013, but direct competition from Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful has pushed the release to Spring 2014.
Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return will tell the story of Dorothy (voiced by Lea Michele) who returns to the land of Oz to find that all her old friends are in grave danger (how original). With a bunch of new friends, including a marshmallow man named Marshal Mallow (Hugh Dancy), a china doll princess (Megan Hilty), an ancient tree named Tugg (Patrick Stewart), and a large owl named Wiser (Oliver Platt), Dorothy faces off against a wicked jester (Martin Short, I am not even kidding) who wants to control Oz by turning people into marionettes. Sigh.
The CGI film is directed by Daniel St. Pierre (Everyone’s Hero) and Will Finn (The Road to El Dorado, Home on the Range).
Your thoughts on the title change? It’s no surprise that in the past, Disney has changed potential titles to make them less “female-centric” and appealing to boys. So Rapunzel became Tangled, The Bear and the Bow became Brave and The Snow Queen is now Frozen. I guess Summertime Entertainment is following the same trend. Well, who can blame them? Animation is a huge investment and a film’s title could make or break it. No mater how cheesy.
Check out a trailer for the movie below: