Now, look, The Wiz movie has issues. It's possibly too long, wasn't exactly made by a director versed well in musicals, and has some ideas that don't entirely work to their best potential. But for a lot of people, things about The Wiz movie resonate. It's the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz now told for an African-American audience with a star-studded cast of black talent from the 1970s. Seeing Dorothy reimagined as a school teacher who needs to step outside her comfort zone (with a New York flair) means a lot to adult audiences who sometimes feel lost in the world. Diana Ross might not have given the best performance possible, but she is committed to the role and gives it her all.
In May, The Wiz returned to theaters sporting a new 4K restoration, and yours truly made a point to go see it. The movie is visually lush, reimagining New York City landscapes as the Land of Oz, and it's debatable how well this works. I've joked you can see the empty street scenes as it being a post-apocalyptic world. especially as the "gate" to the Emerald City is now a big vault door. But the set design is full of details that disappeared on VHS (if not cropped out in the 4:3 version for old CRT televisions) and DVD and only began to re-emerge as we got Universal's Blu-Ray in 2010.
In 4K, I was able to clearly see the mysterious Subway Peddler has little dolls on his tray that he carries. There's a love tester machine in the background of the Tin Man's carnival ground. Even the individual green lights in the Emerald City's famous distant shot that ends with a giant green apple rising like a sun are clearly visible. To be fair, seeing this on a big screen in the theater helped. On smaller screens at home, it might be harder to see.
This new restoration used the original camera negative as the source, which is the best option as this contains the best possible image. Film prints lose some clarity, and copies of copies usually get worse. In comparing The Wiz to previous home video incarnations, the difference really shows.
And surprise, the Criterion Collection of all boutique labels, released the new physical home video release. A "boutique label" releases movies they've licensed to disc, usually catalog titles the studio isn't interested in releasing themselves. Sometimes these releases have good bonus features, such as audio commentary by people involved with the film or a movie historian, or even archival features. Sometimes, you just get a trailer or just the movie on disc. What you usually don't get is promos opening the disc, though this has largely been abandoned from most home video releases these days. Criterion Collection discs famously go straight to the menu when put into a player.
The audio got an Atmos remix, and in the first pressing, a few bits of dialogue went missing. Criterion has since announced a replacement program for the discs as well as issuing a new edition, and I'll be sharing that information. If you're buying a copy and aren't sure which copy you got, the UPC/barcode for the second pressing is 715515324915, and a user from the Blu-Ray.com forum notes the second pressing "does say 'Second printing 2025' on the right hand side of the back, in the blue section, right above the Criterion C logo."
When it comes to bonus features, we get some new material that hasn't been released to disc before. We get an audio commentary from film historians Michael B. Gillespie and Alfred L. Martin, a newsreel clip of the premiere with a critic questioning Diana Ross (rather unkindly) and a clip from American Masters of director Sidney Lumet talking about working with Quincy Jones, who handled the music arrangement and score for the movie. Brought over from Universal's releases is a theatrical trailer.
Sadly missing from Universal's release is a promotional featurette titled "Wiz On Down The Road," a 12 minute affair that had a good amount of behind the scenes footage. It's odd that this didn't get carried over. Even if there's not a high definition master, a nice upscale could have been done, or at least presenting it in 1080i. Given how nice this piece was, it prevents the Criterion edition from feeling like the ultimate edition of the film.
The cover art is a new piece by an artist to celebrate the film's legacy (the Criterion Collection has been commissioning artists to create new artwork for their releases), but I would've preferred poster artwork or actual film photography. With all respects to the artist, and to paraphrase Miss One, "It put the ugh in ugly!" For a cult classic film with an undeserved negative reputation, it could've used something more attractive.
The Criterion Collection has two editions: 4K and standalone standard Blu-Ray. The 4K edition has both discs, the video bonuses are only on the Blu-Ray disc, while the audio commentary is on both discs.
Anyway, here is information on the replacement program, noting the second release adds the original theatrical audio track as an option (I gotta get my own replacement going):
Here are the full details regarding THE WIZ replacement program:
We've made a correction to our 4K and Blu-ray editions of THE WIZ to fix issues with the feature ATMOS soundtrack.
We have also added an additional soundtrack to the release, the original theatrical 70mm 6-track soundtrack.
Please note that we are prioritizing replacements for fans who pre-ordered directly from Criterion.com, so those will go out first in the coming weeks, but anyone who has these first pressing discs is eligible for a replacement, regardless of where it was purchased.
If you would like us to add you to our queue now, please send us the following to orders@criterion.com:
- Your name and US or Canadian mailing address that will be valid for at least the next month; please type this information out in the body of the email
- A photo of the defective disc(s) with your name and date written on the front/art side (using a sharpie or paint marker - you can write this info on the lighter portion of the disc, and take a photo against a light source so your name and date are visible). You do not need to break the disc.
- Note that if you purchased the 4K UHD + Blu-ray version, we need a photo of both marked discs; if you have the Blu-ray version only, a photo of the single disc is sufficient
- A snapshot of your original purchase receipt, if available
Replacement discs are estimated to start going out in late September to mid October.
Tracking will be emailed to you automatically from our Pitney shipping account once the discs are being packed.
Finally, please hold on to the issue disc(s) for now but discard them as soon as the replacement versions are received successfully.
If you have not yet purchased THE WIZ or plan to purchase additional copies, it will be back in stock later this month (September) and the updated version will have the text SECOND PRESSING on the cover art and the discs.
(And Disney/Sony, we REALLY need a 4K edition of Return to Oz like, right now, please?)
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