<P> (The above list is excerpted from the liner notes on the Rhino Records collection .) </P> <P> The film's first sneak preview was held in San Bernardino, California . The film was previewed in three test markets: on August 11, 1939, at Kenosha, Wisconsin and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on August 12 . </P> <P> The Hollywood premiere was on August 15, 1939, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre . The New York City premiere, held at Loew's Capitol Theatre on August 17, 1939, was followed by a live performance with Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney . They continued to perform there after each screening for a week, extended in Rooney's case for a second week and in Garland's to three (with Oz co-stars Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr replacing Rooney for the third and final week). The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939 . </P> <P> According to MGM records, during the film's initial release, it earned $2,048,000 in the US and Canada and $969,000 in other countries throughout the world, resulting in total earnings of $3,017,000 . While these were considerable earnings, the high production cost, in association with various distribution and other costs, meant the movie initially recorded a loss of $1,145,000 for the studio . It did not show what MGM considered a profit until a 1949 re-release earned an additional $1.5 million (about $15 million today). However, for all the risks and cost that MGM undertook to produce the film, it was considered at least more successful than anyone thought it would be . According to Christopher Finch, author of the Judy Garland biography Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland, "Fantasy is always a risk at the box office . The film had been enormously successful as a book, and it had also been a major stage hit, but previous attempts to bring it to the screen had been dismal failures ." Finch also writes that after the success of the film, Garland signed a new contract with MGM giving her a substantial increase in salary, making her one of the top - ten box office stars in the United States . </P>

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