The Wizard of Oz Opens August 28 at the Las Vegas Sphere, Here’s a Behind the Scenes Look at the AI-Enhanced Film

The Sphere in Las Vegas, a venue that feels more like a starship than a movie theater, kicks off The Wizard of Oz on August 28, 2025. This isn’t just a screening of the 1939 classic—it’s a wild reimagining that drops you straight into the heart of Oz.

Inside, the Sphere’s 160,000-square-foot LED screen, rocking a jaw-dropping 16K resolution, wraps around 17,600 seats, pulling you into a visual vortex. The team—Google DeepMind, Google Cloud, Sphere Studios, Magnopus, Warner Bros. Discovery, and more—tapped AI tools like Imagen, Veo, and Gemini to make it happen. They didn’t just sharpen the old 35mm film; they stretched it, “outpainting” scenes to build full 360-degree worlds. “When Dorothy’s running down that road in the opening shot, you see the whole landscape and her house in context,” says producer Jane Rosenthal, known for The Irishman.

The sound is pure magic, taking things to another level. With 167,000 speakers, Sphere’s Immersive Sound system makes standard surround sound feel like a cheap toy. The original 1939 score, recorded in mono on ancient gear, was re-recorded by Sphere Studios to unleash this beast. Every note of “Over the Rainbow” and every orchestral surge is remixed for spatial audio, wrapping you in the music. “We’re keeping the soul of the original while giving it justice,” says Carolyn Blackwood, Sphere Studios head and former Warner Bros. vet. Sound effects got a full rebuild too—the tornado hauling Dorothy to Oz swirls around you with pinpoint precision, backed by infrasound that hits you in the chest.


Haptic seats crank up the immersion, letting you feel the tornado’s roar or the Wicked Witch’s broom thump. Scent effects, like the smell of poppies drifting through, drag you deeper into Oz. “We’re answering, ‘What’s it like to be in Oz?’” says Jennifer Koester, Sphere’s president and COO. These tricks sync with the visuals, which hug you in a 360-degree grip. The iconic shift from Kansas’s sepia to Oz’s Technicolor pops as the whole venue changes colors, making you feel like you’ve crash-landed in Munchkinland.


This project’s a beast—an $80 million effort roping in thousands of researchers, coders, and artists. Tools like Topaz Video AI kept visuals razor-sharp, while Nuke and Unreal Engine reshaped scenes for the panoramic screen. OpenCV handled grunt work like motion stabilization, but human eyes ensured it stayed true to the original. “AI was the key,” Rosenthal says, stressing no new dialogue or music was added—just amplified. That respect for the classic shuts down worries about AI messing with a legend. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian nails it: “We’re taking a beloved film and re-creating it.”



Outside, the Sphere’s Exosphere, the world’s biggest LED exterior, turns into a marketing showstopper. A giant setup features the Wicked Witch of the East’s 50-foot legs and 22-foot ruby slippers poking out from under the venue, like Dorothy’s house just slammed down. “It’s larger than life,” Koester says, “a teaser for what’s inside.” Paired with twister visuals on the Exosphere, it’s been pulling crowds since tickets dropped on June 10, starting at $104.
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