Wicked hype and who's sitting it out

 As of this week, tickets are on sale for the long-awaited film adaptation of the musical Wicked. The film is confirmed to run for 160 minutes, 20 minutes shy of three hours. Winnie Holzman better have written the heck out of the story in this new, expanded form because this movie is only adapting the Act 1 portion of the musical with Act 2 making up Wicked: Part 2 next year.

The cast and crew are doing interviews and planning tours, some fans have gotten huge promotional gifts and have even seen the movie early. (Not that they can say anything.)

And there's a ton of merchandise from tie in books to a board game, a Monopoly game, clothing (including a Target exclusive line of clothes designed by costume designer Paul Tazewell), prop replicas, Halloween costumes, Funko Pops, LEGO sets, Squishmallows and dolls.

I decided to get the dolls based on picking up earlier lines of dolls tying in with Oz the Great and Powerful, the 75th anniversary MGM Wizard of Oz dolls, and a doll based on Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return as well as customizing my own dolls based on Polychrome, Ozma and Glinda.

Given that the Wicked dolls are likely to be popular, I've been proactive about getting them, preordering them before they can sell out.

Here's what's available: six dolls are available from most retailers, please note that only dolls with the word "deluxe" in the name or description include a doll stand. All other dolls don't, so if you collect Oz dolls for display, either leave them in box or prepare to invest in some stands.

• Deluxe Elphaba (based on the "Defying Gravity" sequence, complete with hat, bookbag, cape and broom)
• Deluxe Glinda (based on the "bubble dress" she wears during "No One Mourns The Wicked, including a crown and wand)
• Singing Glinda (based on her outfit during the "Popular" sequence, the doll plays two clips from the song)
• Nessarose (based on her appearance during the OzDust Ballroom sequence with her wheelchair)
• Elphaba (based on her appearance during the OzDust Ballroom sequence with her hat and a bookbag)
• Glinda (based on her appearance during the OzDust Ballroom sequence)

Three dolls are exclusive to Walmart stores and being sold online:

• Elphaba at Shiz University (dressed as she appears in scenes in the film as seen in trailers, featuring a striped asymmetrical jacket and a pleated asymmetrical skirt)
• Glinda at Shiz University (dressed as she appears during her arrival at Shiz)
• Madame Morrible (dressed as she appears early in the film)

Two dolls are exclusive to Target stores and are available online:

• Singing Elphaba (dressed as she appears in the latter portion of the film during "One Short Day" and going forward, but without her "Defying Gravity" cape and broom, the doll plays two clips from "Defying Gravity")
• Fiyero (dressed as he appears during the "Dancing Through Life" sequence)

In addition, Mattel Creations online is selling a deluxe two-pack of Madame Morrible and Elphaba as they appear during tutoring sessions as seen in trailers, this is the only Elphaba doll to include the glasses she wears in the film.

With thirteen dolls, the Wicked line is already expansive, and there's a second movie coming next year, and potentially even more merchandise to keep the pegs warm until then.

Personally, I hope the Wicked line gives us a doll of Jeff Goldblum's Wizard, as the character hasn't gotten much love in fashion doll form for any Oz line, with the exception of Oz the Great and Powerful, though James Franco's Wizard might not be the preferred one to include with dolls from other lines.

The soundtrack is releasing November 22, the same day as the film's wide release so you can listen to the songs right after seeing the movie. The tracklist as announced does not include any new songs or tracks from the score, but no Act 1 songs from the musical have been dropped. It'll be available to be streamed from digital music platforms or purchased for your own library, and there are multiple vinyl and CD editions available for preorder.

It's a good time to be an Oz fan, even if you don't care for Wicked, because if the movie does as well as the current hype is suggesting, studios might be open to making more Oz films or television productions. The recent Broadway revival of The Wiz with its new Amber Ruffin-penned book has already had some rumblings about a film version, but as it would be under Universal and they're currently doing Wicked, they'd wait until this one is over and then produce it if they chose to. Maybe Warner Brothers could finally make an Oz film of their own instead of just exploiting the MGM film.

And speaking of the MGM film, Warner Brothers has barely done anything with the fact that it's the 85th anniversary of MGM's The Wizard of Oz, which they own the rights to. They will be reissuing the 4K disc and Blu-Ray in a steelbook edition with recycled cover art from the 2005 3-disc DVD collector's edition of the film, featuring the Wicked Witch of the West's silhouette over her crystal ball with Dorothy and her friends visible inside against a green background. It also includes some paper goods the 2005 set included: a reproduction ticket, invitation and program for the premiere of the film with reproduction lobby cards and reproductions of different 1939 posters on cards. Which would be fine if it was selling for about $40 or less, but the price on preorders ranges from $53 (DeepDiscount) to $80 (Amazon), which makes it unattractive for those of us who already own the film in 4K as we've had no indication that there'll be any new content on the discs.

If, say, Flicker Alley released a collection of the Oz silent films restored in high definition, I'd expect to get it for about $45, what they charge for one of their Laurel and Hardy collections, and I'd love to buy that as soon as possible if it was available. But I own MGM's The Wizard of Oz on four DVD sets, a 3D/standard Blu-Ray collection and the first 4K release, and a laserdisc set and a handful of VHS tapes I can't use, but the packaging is pretty. I'm not interested in paying a premium price for essentially no new content.

And this is the only major new thing coming from the MGM film's branding aside from more licensed merchandise. No new books on the making of the film, no exciting publications of production materials, Mattel isn't even reissuing their famous Barbie Oz dolls, trying to see if they can get an even better Judy Garland likeness.

With the closure of the Boomerang streaming service, the recent animated series Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz is now only legally available for digital purchase with a nice bundle price exclusive to iTunes. And may I note, it bummed me out that the series began as a Boomerang exclusive but they never released all of the episodes on that service, keeping the last several for broadcast and purchase only. And no, it's not available to stream on Max. The series got 20 episodes released across two DVDs. There's no announcement of a Blu-Ray release yet.

Frankly, it's just frustrating to see Oz back in a big way in the public consciousness and Warner Brothers doing almost nothing to even exploit the MGM film or other Oz properties they own. Even Books of Wonder plans to begin reissuing the Thompson Oz books in hardcover now that more are in the public domain, and a Baum family member wrote a new Oz picture book. Gregory Maguire has turned out a book about young Elphaba that'll be available early next year titled Elphie, expanding his work for his take on Oz to eight novels and one short story collection.

... Sony/Disney? Can we get a Return to Oz 4K upgrade for next year? I'll preorder and tell my friends.