Commercial Reaction
The Wiz proved to be a commercial flop, as the $24 million production only earned $13.6 million at the box office. Though prerelease TV broadcast rights had been sold to CBS for over $10 million, in the end, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal. At the time, it was the most expensive film musical ever made. The film's failure steered Hollywood studios away from producing the all-black film projects which had become popular during the blaxploitation era of the early to mid-1970s for several years.
The film has been available on VHS home video since the 1980s, and is periodically broadcast on television, often on Thanksgiving Day. The film was released on DVD in 1999; a remastered version entitled The Wiz: 30th Anniversary Edition was released in 2008. Extras on both DVD releases include a 1978 featurette about the film's production and the original theatrical trailer.
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