Watch: Eye-Popping Trailer For Sam Raimi's 'Oz The Great And Powerful'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
July 12, 2012 6:44 PM
21 Comments

Comic-Con kicked off in full force today, and you don't have to be in San Diego to get the goodies. Not long after they showed off a sizzle reel to the crowd in Hall H, Disney went ahead and dumped the first trailer for "Oz The Great And Powerful" online, and yeah, it's actually pretty impressive.

As revealed at the beginning of the year, Sam Raimi gives a nod to the past by opening the film in old school, windowboxed, square black-and-white before transitioning to color. And what color it is. The big-budget prequel of sorts follows Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs (James Franco), a showman and magician at a traveling circus who flees in a hot air balloon after being caught canoodling with a customer’s wife, only to be swept away in a terrible storm to wake up in the magical land of Oz, which is run by two magical wicked witches (Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz). Michelle Williams plays Glinda the Good Witch, with the young Joey King playing China Girl and Zach Braff rounding things out as Franco’s loyal but underappreciated assistant.

Yes, this looks like a green-screen machine, but we have to say it does look pretty impressive, and frankly like something adults will be able to enjoy as well, unlike Disney's other (yet still $1 billion earning) fairy tale revisionist movie, "Alice In Wonderland." And it looks like some considerable care went into the visual look of the film, which again, looks far more varied, interesting and detailed than Tim Burton's relatively plain and uninspired 'Alice.' That said, James Franco as the lead is the wildcard, as he can be wildly unpredictable (particularly when he's not feeling invested in the part) or fade into the wallpaper. But it looks like he's rising to the occasion here, and he's not lacking in solid support around him.

Thoughts? Let us know below. "Oz The Great And Powerful" opens on March 8, 2013.

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More: Oz the Great and Powerful, Sam Raimi, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Film Trailers

21 Comments

| Reply
Chris Kevin | October 8, 2012 1:12 PMReply

"Oz The Great and Powerful" will be the most entertaining, candy-colored, fantasy film of 2013. It will be one of the spring films of next year other than "GIJoe:Retaliation" with Channing Tatum, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Rachel Weitz, James Franco, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis will all look amazing in Sam Raimi's prequel story to Frank L. Baum's "The Wizard Of Oz" novel book.
me | August 9, 2012 9:47 AMReply

if u watched Wicked you'll see that there was Glinda before she became the good witch. if this story is really before wicked, then why is there a Glinda the good witch?
LeonRaymond | July 13, 2012 11:06 AMReply

I love it, a vision, just connects and goes beyond
No Thanks | July 13, 2012 10:32 AMReply

Looks like Tim Burton and it looks like crap. Pass
d | July 13, 2012 7:06 AMReply

Looks fun, but Franco seems like an extremely bland protag.
jim | July 13, 2012 6:36 AMReply

Why does James Franco always looks stoned? It is so distracting.
Tom Cruise | July 13, 2012 12:08 AMReply

only I am "Great And Powerful"!
Peter | July 12, 2012 10:01 PMReply

Looks great! Will watch it once it comes out!
Huffy | July 12, 2012 9:56 PMReply

It says something about modern Hollywood when the 70-year-old Wizard is more impressive looking than this. Maybe they wanted to go for the Speed Racer aesthetic but it just looks garish to me.
Great Scott! | July 12, 2012 7:43 PMReply

Cheers for B&W open. Jeers for Kunis, don't think she'll pull it off. "YEER IN OZ".
C | July 12, 2012 7:38 PMReply

This why I hold so much respect for directors like Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky, who rely on practical sets and effects versus the overuse of CG. What happened to actually building sets these days? Did the entire budget go towards the insane salaries of their actors that they couldn't afford to actually build anything from scratch? Take a note from Aronofsky, whose actually building an entire arc for his project Noah. The design for this film looks great, yes, but the execution has left little to be desired. Whenever I see Disney and From the Producer of Alice and Wonderland, I know to avoid it. Which is why I fear for Malefienctâ¦
Ian | July 12, 2012 9:35 PM

Those guys tend to make movies set in real world settings, this is set in a candy-colored fantasy world. There's kind of a difference here. And apparently Noah will have quite a bit of CGI, giant angels, floods and whatnot.
paul | July 12, 2012 7:32 PMReply

the cgi looks bad.
idts | July 12, 2012 7:25 PMReply

Ew @ this CGI mess.
gert | July 12, 2012 7:20 PMReply

imaginarium of doctor parnassus comes to mind, might be an ok film
Oogle monster | July 12, 2012 7:44 PM

Bingo. That film was actually quite good till the third act. I do like seeing Williams' is something other than a frown although the wig looks BUSTED.
smrtmnky | July 12, 2012 7:14 PMReply

So his initials are OZ PINHEAD?
Christian | July 12, 2012 7:08 PMReply

Looks 10 times more fun and inspired than Burton's hack direction on Alice in Wonderland. If Raimi can hit that spot of Spider-Man 1-2 blockbuster filmmaking this one could be amazing. Oh, and who the fuck was Marc Webb again?
tristan eldritch | July 12, 2012 7:05 PMReply

Jeez, I dunno, looks like garish sub-Burton to me.
Alan | July 14, 2012 3:20 AM

Didn't you see 'Dark Shadows'? Tim Burton is the new "sub-Burton".
Stan | July 12, 2012 6:57 PMReply

Rachel Weisz looks amazing in this film, can't wait to see it.