Sphere reveals further details on AI-enhanced ‘The Wizard Of Oz’

Sphere and Warner Bros Discovery have unveiled more details of their collaboration on The Wizard Of Oz that uses AI to create an immersive version of the 1939 Hollywood classic.

The adaptation will open at the Las Vegas venue on August 28 and took more than a year to reformat in partnership with Google Cloud and immersive experiences specialist Magnopus. Tribeca Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal is the producer.

The creators of The Wizard Of Oz At Sphere adapted the original shot for a 4:3 screen to fill Sphere’s wraparound 160,000 sq ft interior display and remastered original songs to transmit through Sphere Immersive Sound’s 167,000 speakers. Haptic seats, environmental effects and custom scents are being used to deepen the immersive experience.

The creators used the original shot list and production design and accessed props from Warner Bros and Academy archives to create a 75-minute experience. They used AI to “pull shots together”, said Jen Koester, president and COO of Sphere, who added that the technology was not used to create new scenes or songs.

“Because of the immersive nature of the screen and its scale, we needed to create a fluid experience from shot to shot, so we used AI to pull shots together,” Koester told Screendaily. “Where you have Uncle Henry leaning against a wall and it cuts to Dorothy Gale and Toto, we use AI to tie the performances together and stay true to the integrity of the film […] We haven’t put anything new into this film that didn’t exist before. We’re pulling them together to create this more seamless and engaging narrative.”

Rosenthal worked alongside visual effects specialist Ben Grossmann from Hugo, Oppenheimer editor Jennifer Lame, and creative director Zack Winokur.

Ticket prices start at $104. Sphere will not report box office and the partners did not say whether sales will be split with Warner Bros Discovery. The collaboration was highlighted at Sphere in Las Vegas on Tuesday, when a giant pair of Wicked Witch of the East’s legs wearing 22ft tall iconic ruby slippers stuck out from beneath the structure itself.

The Wizard Of Oz At Sphere is the second feature experience after Darren Aronofsky’s nature documentary Postcard From Earth, which continues to play at the venue. Free Solo co-directors Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are at work on upcoming extreme sports documentary From The Edge.

Sphere opened in 2023 and also hosts concerts and residencies. 

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