BURBANK, Calif., Feb. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Walt Disney Records will release the digital original motion picture soundtrack for "Oz The Great and Powerful" on March 5, 2012.  Oscar®-nominated composer Danny Elfman reunites with director Sam Raimi for "Oz The Great and Powerful" after composing original scores for the filmmaker's blockbuster hits "Spider-Man," "Spider-Man 2," "Darkman" and "A Simple Plan."

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Elfman said, "I didn't really go in with any sense of what I wanted to do other than just to follow the film. It was incredibly clear because the characters and what they were doing, and what their quests were, and what needed to be done, were all laid out, so I fell into it very easily."  Elfman employed a traditional orchestra for the film to give the music a classic feel. He relates, "Sam did want a very strong, traditional feel to this movie. I think there has always been the feeling that we'd like to try to give it a classic feel and a timelessness."

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Raimi said, "Danny has a grand arsenal of musical abilities. He's able to create a sweeping gigantic sound that can really describe a tremendous scale and help us create this very unique world that Frank Baum wrote about, the land of Oz."   

Elfman has received Oscar^® nominations for his scores for Barry Sonnenfeld's "Men in Black," Tim Burton's "Big Fish," Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting" and "Milk."  Movie audiences worldwide have also heard Danny Elfman's unique sound and style in 80 film scores, including David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook," "Hitchcock," "Promised Land," Brian De Palma's "Mission: Impossible," Martin Brest's "Midnight Run," Jon Amiel's "Sommersby," the Hughes Brothers' "Dead Presidents," Rob Marshall's Academy Award-winning "Chicago," and Shawn Levy's "Real Steel."  For more than 25 years, Tim Burton and Elfman have collaborated on some of the cinema's most beloved and recognizable films and soundtracks, including "Beetlejuice," "Batman," "Edward Scissorhand," "Sleepy Hollow," "Corpse Bride," and more recently, "Frankenweenie," "Dark Shadows" and "Alice in Wonderland."

Disney's fantastical adventure "Oz The Great and Powerful," directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum's beloved wizard character. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great wizard but into a better man as well.

"Oz The Great and Powerful" is produced by Joe Roth, with screen story by Mitchell Kapner and screenplay by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Grant Curtis, Palak Patel, Josh Donen and Philip Steuer are serving as executive producers. "Oz The Great and Powerful" opens in U.S. theaters on March 8, 2013.

The original motion picture soundtrack for "Oz The Great and Powerful" will be available digitally on March 5^th; physical CDs will be available exclusively at www.Intrada.com.  For more information on Walt Disney Records' releases, please visit Disney.com/music, become a fan at Facebook.com/disneymusic or follow us at Twitter.com/disneymusic.

For more information please contact:
Maria Kleinman, Walt Disney Records/Disney Music Group Publicity
818-560-5867, Maria.Kleinman@Disney.com

SOURCE Walt Disney Records