Immersive AI-enhanced version of classic film The Wizard Of Oz debuts in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Swirling winds, drone-operated monkeys and artificial intelligence (AI) brought new life to The Wizard Of Oz on Aug 28, at the premiere of an immersive version of the Hollywood film classic off the Las Vegas Strip.

A yellow-brick carpet, mimicking the yellow brick road in the film, led to the entrance of the massive Sphere, a high-tech, dome-shaped entertainment venue that is showing the update of the 1939 movie musical.

Premiere attendees included American actress-singer Lorna Luft, whose mother Judy Garland played protagonist Dorothy in the movie.

“We are finally off to see the wizard,” Sphere Entertainment chief executive James Dolan told the crowd. “What you’re about to see tonight is our most powerful example yet of experiential storytelling in this new media. For the first time, you’re going to feel like you’re part of the story.”

Reworking the film took more than two years and 2,000 people, including Sphere’s creative team, Warner Bros Discovery executives and Google’s DeepMind researchers, academics and visual effects artists.

AI enhanced the resolution of tiny celluloid frames from 1939 to ultra-high-definition images. It restored details – like freckles on Dorothy’s face or the burlap texture on Scarecrow’s face – obscured by Technicolor’s process. Proponents see it as a potential watershed moment in Hollywood’s use of AI tools.

The US$104 (S$133) or more per seat spectacle is more than meets the eye.

Audience members will find themselves in the eye of the swirling tornado that rips Dorothy’s Kansas farmhouse off its moorings and hurtles it onto Munchkinland.

The film has been enhanced to fill a 160,000 sq ft wall of LED panels that spans three football fields, encircling the audience and reaching 22 storeys high, as 750-horsepower fans kick up wind and debris to simulate the twister.

Flying monkeys will swoop into the Sphere as almost 5m helium-filled simians steered by drone operators, one of many 4D effects.

The result is an amalgam of cinema, live production and experiential VR. “I think that’s going to change the way people think about entertainment and experience,” said Oscar-winning Ben Grossmann, who oversaw the project’s visual effects. REUTERS