Someone tell L. Frank Baum that “The Wizard of Oz” is the gift that just keeps giving.

Yesterday, “Wicked,” in which the Wizard becomes a villain after decades of just bumbling around, crossed the $200 Million mark. It’s been in release 9 full days (the first was previews). The total now is $214 million.

“Wicked” started a little slowly but has soared over the holiday weekend. Original estimates of $175 million are now out the window. I guess this explains the musical’s enduring popularity on Broadway. It’s been playing for 300 years and is always full.

As I said yesterday, music from the movie is also booming on the charts.

What happened to the poor Wizard anyway? He landed in Oz and put on a pretty good show. When Dorothy arrives, he’s revealed as kind of a nitwit circus barker. According to “Wicked,” he’s been turned into an evil guy. It’s not fair. And will we ever know where he went in the hot air balloon?

Elsewhere, “Gladiator II” is no slouch. The Ridley Scott film should hit $100 million today. Reading the trades and Oscar progs, I see there’s a new PR idea that “Wicked” should win Best Picture because the Wizard is supposed to be Trump. This is hooey. If “Wicked” makes $500 million, its Oscar chances are diminished greatly I think. But it will get a record number of nominations.

A more interesting story is about “Conclave,” which is number 1 on the home viewing chart and still attracting theater audiences. Edward Berger’s brilliant film deserves many awards, if not the biggest ones. Ralph Fiennes and co. are sublime.

It looks like director Doug Liman and Tom Cruise’s supernatural thriller, “Deeper,” is going forward.

At a screening of Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck’s documentary, “Gaucho Gaucho,” Liman told me last week that he and the “Mission Impossible” star plan for a “scary” movie. “I have never done one,” said Liman, “and neither has Tom Cruise.”

Liman — director of hits like “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made” — hosted the “Gaucho Gaucho” a private screening of excerpts in his downtown Manhattan apartment, followed by a Q&A with Michael Dweck. The filmmakers already had celebrity fans from their  previous effort the 2020 film, “The Truffle Hunters.” Liman also joined the gang of admirers, hence the screening. “Gaucho Gaucho,”  about Argentinian cowboys, is making the rounds of film festivals to much acclaim.

On the face of it, “Truffle Hunters” and “Gaucho Gaucho” could not be more different. Shot in black & white, “Gaucho Gaucho” takes place in a hilly landscape, featuring a community close to nature, far from our tech world. In one clip, a still mound moves. A horse rises from rest, a man on top of it—all in one long take. The filmmakers knew this “horse whisperer” often slept on his animal, and simply filmed it—like a Warholian meditation. The Hollywood filmmakers appreciate how challenging such a one-shot scene can be. No tricks, cut-aways, or B-roll–just the camera recording what takes place, taking its time. The audience at Liman’s comprised documentary filmmakers all know that even non-fiction filmmaking relies on crafting. Without the customary “script,” Kershaw and Dweck get as close to the real moment as one can get with thrilling results.

Prior to their recent screening at DOCNYC, I had a chance to speak to them on Zoom. Onto the next project, they were filming in Burgundy, in France’s wine country, yet another off the grid community—their specialty. While the doc team was honored to be lauded by Zemeckis and Hanks, and to meet Liman and be friends, as they said, they work on a smaller canvas. “We have the luxury of time to create the film we want to make,” said Dweck.

“We desire to take the documentary genre to the language of cinema. Our process is intuitive. We go in with a hunch, shooting one scene a day which gives us time to study the lives of inspiring people.” Referring to gauchos, they observe, American cowboy culture is about domination over land. A gaucho gaucho is more than simply a gaucho who goes through the paces without the adherence to a distinct code of behavior and ethics. He is a man to be honored.

“We are looking for magic. We are surprised every day. We may be shooting a family having lunch without knowing that this day his cow had died,” said Dweck. “Our films make audiences consider their own relationships to family, food, the environment.”

Woody Allen turns 89 tomorrow and hasn’t lost a step!

According to the media in Spain, Woody and wife Soon Yi turned up in Barcelona yesterday. Woody is getting ready to make a new film there.

Woody told me last spring he was ready with a new screenplay as soon as he found the financing. It seems like he did with previous producer Ed Walson, who’s backed many of Alleb’s films and his Broadway musical of “Bullets over Broadway.”

One of Woody’s biggest hits was made in Spain. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was a Best Picture nominee. Penelope Cruz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

This would be Woody’s third film he’s shot in Spain — the other was “Rifkin’s Festival.” It’s also his 53rd feature (I think). He’s made an average of one movie a year since the early 80s.

Woody Allen has directed more actresses to Oscars than any other director. They include Cruz, Dianne Wiest, Diane Keaton, and Cate Blanchett. He won the Oscar in 1978 for Best Picture and Director (and Keaton’s Best Actress) for “Annie Hall.”

Woody’s influence is still felt in the movie world. One of his more recent films, “A Rainy Day in New York,” starred Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, and Selena Gomez. Gomez was such a hit with her droll delivery that she wound up basically playing that role in “Only Murders in the Building.” Chalamet and Fanning had such good chemistry that they now co-star in “A Complete Unknown,” about Bob Dylan.

Viva Woody!

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