Movies

The Wizard of Oz

Sphere
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Clicked 14 May 2026
#WOZatSphere

Enjoy a montage of video clips surrounding the Oz experience at Sphere.

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere is a tremendous immersive experience leveraging all sorts of modern technology. The totality of the experience is a remarkable marriage of art and science that stimulates the imagination.

The Movie Experience

Gotta admit to being skeptical about this one. The Wizard of Oz — originally released in 1939 — supersized for the ginormous Sphere screen and impeccable sound system? With AI? Whuh?

Turns out, it’s much more of an experience than I had anticipated.

As with U2’s Achtung Baby Live shows, entering the auditorium immediately creates a sense of place. It’s an environmental setting that reveals nothing about the event itself.

For U2, it was the appearance of a cold, concrete silo. For Oz, the Sphere screen (let’s call it the troposphere) is done up to look like the grand auditorium of Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The detail is immaculate, including the addition of seats down in front. Actually, maybe the illusion would be even more perfect without those seats.

Then the movie begins.

The picture quality is spectacular. It’s a mind-blowing reveal.

But it’s not about removing all the blemishes and airbrushing the imagery to a plasticine perfection. Many flaws in the classic movie’s imagery are intentionally left in full view, particularly when it comes to all the skull caps and noses and costumes. Oh my!

The lollipop kids in particular — it’s easy to spot the delineation of their skull caps. Same for the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion with their makeup appliances.

Set all that aside. The visuals are breathtaking from the very first frames. The sepia tones of those opening scenes in Kansas stretching from the floor and around and above and behind are beautiful. Kansas becomes the new Big Sky Country. When you enter Prof. Marvel’s wagon, you are in his wagon. Look up and behind you; it’s the rear interior of the wagon, not a simple fade out of imagery. The detail is fantastic.

Take it all in. This is immersion of the first order. This is finally the cinematic experience that dwarfs IMAX. (Yeah. I want Christopher Nolan to set his sights on this venue now.)

Let’s Get Physical

Then there are the physical, practical effects.

As the first act to ever perform at Sphere, U2’s shows were thoughtfully experimental by design and necessity, playing with many of the theatrical possibilities of the venue beyond the perpetual presence of the troposphere. Thankfully, No Doubt has also stretched beyond the screen; Sphere offers so many opportunities for immersion and interaction, my fear is too many acts will begin and end with the visual reinforcement of the troposhere alone. The Oz experience builds on U2’s work (c’mon now, the venue was basically built to their specs, particularly on the sound side). Oz takes full advantage of the haptic seats (which weren’t ready for U2’s first shows, nor should they be a part of concerts, when bands want the fans standing from the general admission floor to the nosebleed seats).

The tornado leverages the haptics and then the wind machines kick in down on the bottom floor where I’ve roamed many times now as a general admission concertgoer at U2, Kenny Chesney and No Doubt. The breeze can be felt throughout the venue. The sound. And the leaves — onionskin paper leaves. They come a’ blowin’ in the wind.

That’s immersion on a grand scale.

As Dorothy exits the sepia tones of her newly “relocated” Kansas home and enters the vibrant, Technicolor world ofOz, what the heck is that down off the floor? Those are butterflies. But they’re not on the screen and they’re not a silly 3D trick. They’re physical, large, floating butterfly props that are a truly clever way to bridge fantasy and reality.

In the forest, more magic. The apple trees. With the rustling, unexpectedly and all of a sudden, soft foam apples drop from the ceiling into the delighted crowd. (For those who don’t have one fall in their lap or find one left behind on the floor, they’re sold after the show for $10 in the various merch booths. But only after the show. Not before. It’s a surprise. Shhhh.)

There’s also a snow-ish bubble effect during the poppies scene.

In the Wizard’s grand throne room, the on-screen flames are reinforced by on-floor fire bursts. Feel the heat, even in the upper sections.

The only misfire with these practical effects is the use of stiff, slow- and low-flying monkeys. They all strike a Superman-style pose and float awkwardly (possibly drone-powered) during the first flying monkeys scene. Their orchestration and size in relation to the on-screen action is off-kilter. Virtually in every aspect, they’re clumsy. They need animatronics to bring them to life. It’s a good idea, for sure, but it still needs more fine-tuning and... uh... much more wizardry.

A New Summit

The one big issue for most is likely the truncated run time of only 75 minutes. The original full-length feature runs 102 minutes.

What’s missing? A big omission is the Cowardly Lion’s If I Were King of the Forest. The bulk of the other missing moments are scattered, but the third act certainly takes the biggest hit.

I’m reluctant to write it off as a simple cash-grab strategy; I look at it as an effort to create a multi-format experience with the movie as one component of a broader experience in immersive technologies and artistry. It’s worth noting Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth had a similar 75-minute runtime, as did V-U2, U2’s movie version of their concert. Certainly, shorter run times provide the capacity for more screenings during the day. As it is, on a concert day (such as with No Doubt’s later show start of 20:30), Oz offers 11:00 and 14:00 showtimes. And there is quite a bit to take in after the movie, as part of the post-show lobby experience. This extended lobby interactivity also factored into Postcard and V-U2.

Nonetheless, in the case of Oz at Sphere, there is the mental challenge to overcome of the original Oz movie having that longer runtime and the lingering feeling that things are missing. It’s a fair complaint.

But here’s another perspective. Before Batman Begins was released as a feature film “upscaled” for IMAX screns in June 2005, the format was for all intents and purposes used exclusively for educational films. Everest, the MacGillivray Freeman documentary which tells a version of the story recounted in Jon Krakauer’s intense book Into Thin Air, serves as a pinnacle of this experience. First released in 1998, it is to this day still the most commercially successful IMAX documentary of all time. And it ran only 45 minutes. That was the standard length for IMAX movies at the time. Now, in July 2026, Christopher Nolan’s huge-scale telling of Homer’s Odyssey will be the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX cameras.

All of that leads to this simple thought: give it time. A feature-length Sphere movie is virtually inevitable. This is all still so new. It’ll take a little more time for everything to scale up — for the finances to make sense and for the technology to adapt. As it stands, producing Wizard of Oz for Sphere reportedly cost around $100 million, the budget for a complete, modestly-scaled feature. For the sake of comparison, consider the budget for the recent theatrical release of the CGI-heavy Mortal Kombat II was “only” $80 million.

Wizards of AI

Sigh. And, of course, there is the to-be-expected backlash for using artificial intelligence to remaster the movie into 16K and expand the image not simply to “fit” the screen, but to fill it. How can arguments against a new, rapidly evolving technology get so old so fast? Step back for a second and take in the magnitude of this accomplishment. The considerations are astonishing, expanding out to performance generation to place characters in their proper spots with appropriate actions when needed in the larger Sphere format, but not seen at all in the original filmed frames.

My simple and direct counter-argument to the naysayers is this is a fantastic blend of art and technology merging into a singular experience that — at least right now — cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. The original movie has not been sacrificed in any way; it's still readily available for enjoyment across numerous formats, including streaming services in 4K. This stands in stark contrast to the “Special Editions” of the original Star Wars trilogy (Episodes IV-VI), which have been the only versions available in modern media formats. Rumor has it Disney might offer the original cuts as part of next year’s 50th anniversary of A New Hope.

The Lobby Experience

As mentioned, after the show, there’s live entertainment in the lobby.

There are lots of props that weren’t in the lobby (or were covered) before the show, including the Wizard’s balloon, a flying monkey and a throne room experience involving real-life actors. The latter includes the Wizard’s large, animated head filling the Sphere’s transparent portrait screen, accompanied by staged smoke and lighting effects.

This is an example of modern technology being put to terrific effect. Sphere is demonstrating motion capture animation, essentially the same technology that brought Gollum to life, in a LIVE setting. LIVE! The coolness of this element is easily lost amid the interaction and the crowd. The Wizard (a human actor) is to the left of the throne stage, behind the famous green curtain. He speaks with the crowd. There's some banter between the Wizard and his audience. It’s not pre-recorded. It can’t be, because the audience controls the direction of the conversation based on the individual answers of people chosen at random, such as where a person is from or a wish that is requested. The above video includes a terrific example of this dynamic aspect.

When the Wizard is revealed, look closely at the tech in the booth. Cool stuff in there.

Following this extended skit, there’s a photo opp available for those who want to take a picture with the live actors.

Of course, there’s also a jaw-dropping amount of merch for sale. Loads of T-shirts, jackets and home décor covering a full range of prices.

The Exterior Experience

The experience begins outside Sphere. One of the all-time great visuals: those famous (giant) ruby red slippers and those black-and-white-striped stockings extending out from “under” the Exosphere, a witty recreation of the post-tornado scene with the Wicked Witch of the East trapped under Dorothy’s house.

This display isn’t intended to coincide only with the Wizard of Oz showings. It’s not constrained by concerts or other events. But it is wind-sensitive. On high-wind days, the display is rolled up and stored for protection. I was told Sphere’s already gone through a couple pairs and spent tens of thousands of dollars on repairs following wind storms and all the blowing debris that can damage the display. (Much like the tornado scene, ironically.)

Numerous variations of Oz advertising play across the Exosphere throughout the day and night. Some even include Orbi, Sphere’s giant yellow smiley face. Like a giant crystal ball, keep tabs on all the events going on inside via the XO Stream.

Tickets

There was a surprisingly large crowd when I went on a Thursday afternoon in May, regardless of the ticket prices. The base ticket is fairly expensive for a movie, but this experience is more than only the movie.

And, of course, there are the now ubiquitous “VIP” packages. For Oz, the Good Witch and Bad Witch VIP bundles come with heftier price tags, but include some interesting value-added features, such as “expedited” entry, food or merch vouchers ($15 or $25 depending on which witch) and premium seating.

The priciest, the Bad Witch package, is pretty (my pretty!) well-loaded with club level lounge access featuring complimentary beverages (it’s not clear if food is included), an exclusive VIP poster and some sort of exclusive access to a memorabilia gallery that showcases an original pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from Debbie Reynolds’ personal collection.

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