Article Photos: Disney, Sam Raimi gamble on return trip to Oz



  FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013 file photo, actor James Franco, left, and director Sam Raimi pose for portraits at the "Oz The Great and Powerful" press junket at the Langham Huntington Hotel, in Los Angeles. Returning to the mystical land of âThe Wizard of Ozâ apparently takes more than 70 years and hundreds of millions of dollars. Disney will release its anticipated prequel to the 1939 movie on Friday, Feb. 7, 2013. Directed by Raimi, âOz the Great and Powerfulâ explores the origins of the wizard (James Franco) and the witches (Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz) in a three-dimensional Oz. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013 file photo, actor James Franco, left, and director Sam Raimi pose for portraits at the "Oz The Great and Powerful" press junket at the Langham Huntington Hotel, in Los Angeles. Returning to the mystical land of “The Wizard of Oz” apparently takes more than 70 years and hundreds of millions of dollars. Disney will release its anticipated prequel to the 1939 movie on Friday, Feb. 7, 2013. Directed by Raimi, “Oz the Great and Powerful” explores the origins of the wizard (James Franco) and the witches (Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz) in a three-dimensional Oz. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)