Wizard Of Oz at Sphere In Vegas

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Anyone going to see Wizard Of Oz at Sphere in Vegas? From a lot of the images I've seen, it looks like they cut off the bottom of the picture and added a lot of sky. There are also lots of effects the audience gets in on as well, like, apparently the twister. I looked up ticket prices, and two tickets for a decent location would set me back $369.00, the least expensive ticket will cost you $100. So I'm gonna wait till there are reviews and till ticket prices drop a bit.

[Ed Gordon]

LAS VEGAS – Lorna Luft brushed aside any doubts about how her legendary mother, Judy Garland, would have felt about “The Wizard of Oz" at the Sphere.

The actress-singer Luft, 72, brought her two grown children and four grandchildren to the Aug. 28 "Wizard of Oz" premiere at Las Vegas’ Sphere to witness the nearly $100 million reimagining of the 1939 classic starring Garland, then 16, as Dorothy. The iconic film now plays across the venue’s 160,000-square-foot, 16K-resolution LED screen that wraps over and around the audience.

“We’re all here, the whole family,” Luft told USA TODAY on the yellow carpet, adding her half-sister, Liza Minnelli — from Garland’s marriage to director Vincente Minnelli — was “completely supportive” of the project which has drawn some criticism over the use of AI to enhance the effects.

"My mother would have loved this, absolutely," said Luft. "I hope there’s a standing ovation during ‘Over the Rainbow.'"

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/enter...s/85748697007/

[Mike Blakesley]

We've been to the Sphere twice, once for the Eagles concert and once for the film "Postcard From Earth." The Eagles was the better of the two experiences.

At the Eagles show, the preshow image on the screen when you arrive is an outdoor landscape, so when you walk into the arena, you'd swear you are walking into the outdoors. There's even a slight breeze now and then.

I've seen a lot of photos of the images from the Wizard of Oz show. It looks like they added a lot of skies, forest, etc., and used A.I. to fill in more details of whatever space is being shown. I would like to see the show because I'm a fan of that movie, but my guess is they are hoping the "wow" factor of the special effects and the giant picture will override people being upset with the changes to the movie's iconic images.

If you ever go to a concert at this venue, you basically have two choices: Do you want to see the artist up close, or do you want the best screen experience? You really can't have both, because if you opt for the best screen show, you won't be very close to the artists - you're farther away than you are at most concert venues. If you sit close to the stage, you can't see most of the screen because it's above and behind you. BUT, I think you get a great experience either way.

There are four levels to choose from: The upper middle level has two sections: Regular-folks seats, and private suites. The center of any level is best, of course, but if you opt for the floor and wind up in a rear section, the balcony housing the lower middle section will block your view of the upper parts of the screen. This might explain why most of the Wizard of Oz action is in the lower third of the picture. If you get closer seats, you'll be able to see the whole screen but you may wind up with a stiff neck from looking up and side-to-side a lot.

The top level would probably look good for the screen experiences, but forget about even being able to see people on the stage -- they'll look like ants at best.

The big thing to avoid is sitting on the sides. (For film experiences, they don't even sell the side seats.) I would never go to a concert there and sit on the sides, because the screen image will be all wonky for obvious reasons. I do think they try to avoid showing things with a lot of vertical lines etc. to avoid the picture looking distorted from the sides, but sometimes it's inevitable.

The sound in the place is un-fucking-believable. So clear, it's like listening to your home stereo system on steroids. The picture (a 16K image) is equally spectacular. They could make a travel documentary for this space and you would almost swear you're really there.

If you go to any show, try to arrive right at the time they open the doors so you can enjoy the preshow experiences in the lobby. There are sound demonstrations that are pretty interesting. Concessions are available, but are expensive (but no worse than anything else in Vegas).

One thing to keep in mind, especially if you have any mobility issues is, the seating is very steep, even moreso than a traditional Imax theater. The floor sections are more like a traditional theater from what I can tell (have never been down there), but if you sit in the middle or top, you will likely be navigating a lot of stairs to get to your seats. They have wheelchair and other accessible areas, but if you are subject to any kind of vertigo, it would be a trip getting down the stairs to your seats. Even if you are not bothered by heights, etc., try to avoid a bathroom break during the show if possible, because getting in and out of there during a show would be positively hairy due to the huge image playing with your depth perception, not to mention the darkness and the steep stairs. And the legroom between the rows is painfully small, so if you have to leave mid-show, the rest of your row will hate you. Whatever you do, don't arrive late.

As far as the prices coming down in the future...it's hard to predict that. It's super expensive to operate the place, so they might be about as low as they can get already. Given the recent state of tourism in Vegas (declining), who knows what'll happen though. Bottom line, it's a fun venue to go to, and I hope to get there again to see "Oz."

Here's a picture of the inside that I didn't take. At the left center you can see the area that has the suites and the "high end" seats. The seats directly above those (sections 300) are the best for us regular folks, in my opinion, but they can be expensive.

Screenshot 2025-08-29 144018.png

[Lyle Romer]

Based on Mike's concert description I guess if you want to sit up close to the artist you might as well see them at another venue. It seems the point of seeing a show at Sphere is to have the screen experience as part of the show.

[Ryan Gallagher]

How long before we are remastering and re-releasing old 133 classics as Scope with AI making up everything previously out of the frame?

I'm conflicted, but it is, like this, an interesting idea to breath new life into a piece of older media.

[Mike Blakesley]

I guess it's not much different than the systems that use extra projectors and screens to add more width to an existing theater's image. Except in the Sphere it will look good because it's seamless and a higher quality picture.

Still, a good movie is a good movie even with a 1.33 picture.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I guess it's not much different than the systems that use extra projectors and screens to add more width to an existing theater's image. Except in the Sphere it will look good because it's seamless and a higher quality picture.

Still, a good movie is a good movie even with a 1.33 picture.

They claim it's 16K Rez... I've never seen all the specs published yet...

[Ryan Gallagher]

Still, a good movie is a good movie even with a 1.33 picture.

Agree, we show them all the time, still draws, crowd doesn't care how much masking is involved. ;-)

[Randy Stankey]

Based on Mike's concert description I guess if you want to sit up close to the artist you might as well see them at another venue. It seems the point of seeing a show at Sphere is to have the screen experience as part of the show.

If they've got nine million robocams, shooting the action from every possible angle then you could be standing right next to the performer and you still wouldn't get the view that you can see from the audience.

The screen experience isn't part of the show. It IS the show.

I understand what's going on and how much it costs to produce such a show but $100+ to see the Wizard of Oz is too rich for my blood unless there was a 3-D hologram of Judy Garland giving the audience a lap dance or something.

Now, THAT would be a good use for AI!