How 'The Wizard of Oz' Overcame a $1.14 Million Loss to Become a Timeless Classic

Decades after 1939's The Wizard of Oz was released, it has been ranked among the greatest movies ever made. Its immense success is a major reversal from its original performance, as it initially lost more than $1 million, which was a truly staggering amount of money for the time.

Rotten Tomatoes Named 'The Wizard of Oz' One of the 'Best Movies of All Time'

Rotten Tomatoes maintains a ranking of the "300 best movies of all time" on its website that is regularly updated. The ranking is based on a combination of critics' scores, user ratings, and other factors, including how many times films have been reviewed. That ranking currently has The Wizard of Oz listed as the 49th greatest film ever made. The movie has a 98% Tomatometer critics score based on 171 Reviews and a 89% Popcornmeter rating based on more than 250,000 user reviews.

How 'The Wizard of Oz' Initially Lost $1.14 Million

In 2013, the Los Angeles Times published an article that chronicled how The Wizard of Oz performed at the time of its 1939 release. While most fans know the film has achieved iconic status, many don't realize that is the movie initially was a massive financial disappointment for MGM.

Even though many people went to see the film at that time, the box office receipts simply didn't add up enough. As the Los Angeles Times article detailed, the average movie ticket at the time cost only 25 cents and could go as low as 10 cents for juveniles. Due to cheap ticket prices and the fact that it cost an estimated $3 million to produce and promote, the studio initially lost $1.14 million on the film after it was released, according to NME. An inflation calculator on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website states that $1.14 million in January 1939 would be worth roughly 26.888 million today.

Fortunately for MGM, the movie would ultimately become highly profitable for the company. The Los Angeles Times quoted William Stillman, an author who wrote a book about the movie's history, describing what led to the film becoming successful. "The film's all-American theme of solidarity, preservation of home, and vanquishing of evil forces resonated with audiences in patriotic postwar 1949, and it recouped its initial losses and turned a profit."

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This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 6:00 AM.