Stop, Warner Bros. Just stop. With their 90th anniversary coming up, the studio has announced a whole slew of box sets, including a 100-film DVD collection, a Clint Eastwood collection, and, most interestingly, a Blu-ray rerelease of The Wizard of Oz.
In 3D.
They are converting The Wizard of Oz to 3D.
It’s not been officially announced whether the 3D version will be released theatrically, but who are we kidding: It will make money, therefore the studio will do it.
Though my initial reaction to this news was to rear back from my computer and stare at my screen in abject horror (I can be a bit dramatic in the comfort of my own home, OK?), really, this isn’t at all surprising. Studios exist to make money. Pretending otherwise would be disingenuous, and as many awful studio movies come out each year, we do have studios and their love of huge grosses to thank for good movies like The Avengers, The Dark Knight, etc.
Post-converting The Wizard of Oz is not a creative decision. It’s designed to make money, to get people to shell out cash for yet another box set (Kevin Jagernauth at Indiewire points out that there have already been four Wizard re-releases since 2005). I don’t think them doing this is wrong, per se—Warner Bros. is a business; they’re going to do what makes sense financially; and people will buy it, even though I can’t imagine the 3D will add much to the moviewatching experience (the flying monkeys don’t need to come out of the screen at your face to be nightmare-inducing).
But I don’t have to like it.
(via: Studio Briefing)
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