The 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” starring the late Judy Garland is an undisputed classic. The Las Vegas Sphere is partnering with Warner Bros. Discovery, Google Cloud, and tech company Magnopus to capture the “visionary spirit” of this legendary movie with a special presentation. But, they’ll be using AI for the experience.
“The Wizard of Oz at Sphere” will use Google’s AI cloud and infrastructure to “reimagine” the film. The movie was recorded on a three-strip Technicolor 35mm motion picture camera, which was state-of-the-art at the time. AI technology will upconvert that to display on Sphere’s 160,000-square-foot wraparound interior LED display. This venue is capable of 16K by 16K resolution, which wasn’t even fathomable in the 1930s.
Sphere Using AI
It’s not just looking cleaner at a higher resolution. Google Cloud and Google DeepMind will be enhancing that and using Gemini models, Veo 2 and Imagen 3 to expand backgrounds to ‘help fill in the screen.’ This also means digitally recreating existing characters who wouldn’t appear on the same screen otherwise. (Which we are pretty sure is a fancy way of saying “altering the film.”)
“The power of generative AI, combined with Google’s infrastructure and expertise, is helping us to achieve something extraordinary,” says Jim Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment. “We needed a partner who could push boundaries alongside our teams at Sphere Studios and Magnopus, and Google was the only company equipped to meet the challenge on the world’s highest resolution LED screen.”
“Our partnership with Sphere on ‘The Wizard of Oz at Sphere’ is a great example of pushing the boundaries of generative AI to deliver exciting new experiences for audiences – and new opportunities for studios and filmmakers,” adds Thomas Kurian, CEO ofGoogle Cloud. “We are honored to play a role in such an ambitious project to bring a classic piece of Americana to an entirely new generation of audiences.”
This event will be the first in a larger deal between Sphere Entertainment and Google Cloud.
“The Wizard of Oz at Sphere” is set to open on August 28h. We’ll keep you posted on updates about this project as they become available.
