<Li> $23.3 million (unadjusted, re-releases) </Li> <P> The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer . Widely considered to be one of the greatest films in American history, it is the best - known and most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . It stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, alongside Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton, with Charley Grapewin, Pat Walshe and Clara Blandick, Terry (billed as Toto), and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins . </P> <P> Notable for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, it has become an icon of American popular culture . It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind . It did win in two other categories, including Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart . While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939, it failed to generate profit for MGM, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget, which made it MGM's most expensive production to date . </P> <P> The 1956 broadcast television premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the wider public and eventually made the presentation an annual tradition, making it one of the best known films in movie history . The film was named the most - viewed motion picture on television syndication by the Library of Congress, which also included the film in its National Film Registry in its inaugural year in 1989 . Designation on the registry calls for efforts to preserve it for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant". It is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register . </P>

When was the wizard of oz made in technicolor