The Wizard of Oz gets an AI makeover

One of the most iconic films in cinematic history, The Wizard of Oz, will debut in a way no one has ever seen before, on the colossal, wraparound LED screen of the Las Vegas Sphere. But this isn’t simply a high-resolution screening of the 1939 classic. Instead, it’s a groundbreaking AI-driven reinterpretation that transforms the viewing experience into something entirely new, immersive, and futuristic.

Sphere, the 160,000-square-foot entertainment venue in Las Vegas, is already known for pushing the boundaries of digital performance, combining massive scale with cutting-edge screen technology. Until now, its spectacles have largely been concerts or custom-built immersive content. But with the upcoming Wizard of Oz experience, Sphere takes its first step into classic film exhibition, and it’s doing so in a radically different way.

The Wizard of Oz gets an AI makeover for Las Vegas’ Sphere: A classic reimagined for the future

Rather than projecting the original film as-is, Sphere Entertainment has assembled a 2,000-person creative and technical team to rebuild the experience from the ground up. Their mission: to preserve the essence of The Wizard of Oz while enhancing and extending the original material with the aid of artificial intelligence.

To make the nearly century-old film compatible with the enormous and enveloping Sphere screen, AI tools have been employed to dramatically increase the resolution and scale of the original footage. But the real innovation lies in how AI is used to expand the content beyond its original frame, a technique known as "outpainting."

Outpainting allows algorithms to intelligently generate visual information beyond the boundaries of the original frame. For example, a tight shot of Dorothy’s face in the original film might be expanded to show her full figure, the full expanse of the Yellow Brick Road, and the fantastical landscape of Oz, none of which was originally captured on film. These AI-generated additions are meant to seamlessly blend with the authentic footage, extending what the original filmmakers implied but couldn’t show due to technological and budgetary limitations.

Ben Mankiewicz, host of Turner Classic Movies, described the transformation vividly: “A grainy close-up of Dorothy becomes richly detailed, and then through a process called outpainting, as if by magic, we see the rest of the Scarecrow, the Yellow Brick Road, and the mountains of Oz.”

Despite the use of modern techniques, Sphere Entertainment CEO James Dolan emphasizes that the goal is not to alter the story or essence of The Wizard of Oz. “Our standard on this was not to modify the film at all,” Dolan explained. “It was to try and bring you into the film, as if you were in the studio when it was shot.”

That philosophy underscores the unique challenge of the project: to enrich the film using AI-generated visuals without crossing into revisionism. This isn’t a remake or a reboot, nor is it a “special edition” in the style of George Lucas’ Star Wars updates. Instead, it’s an experiential expansion, an attempt to make a beloved classic feel newly alive in a spatial and sensory format it was never intended for.

The implications of this experiment go far beyond a single screening. If successful, the Sphere’s Wizard of Oz experience could serve as a model for how other classic films might be reintroduced to contemporary audiences, not just with restoration but with full-scale spatial reimagination.

This aligns with a growing trend in both AI and entertainment, using machine learning not just to automate or enhance, but to creatively collaborate with existing art. From AI-assisted music production to style-transfer painting and text generation, generative models are increasingly being used as artistic tools rather than simple utilities.

Of course, such innovation comes with risks. Purists may question whether expanding or augmenting a film undermines its original intent. There’s also the broader concern about AI-generated performances and whether they begin to encroach on the work and legacy of real actors. These concerns are especially relevant when AI is used to simulate parts of performances that were never filmed or intended by the original artists.

Yet, in the case of the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, the creators are positioning the technology as a kind of loving enhancement rather than a replacement. It’s a bold step into the future, one that walks the fine line between innovation and preservation.

What audiences will experience on August 28 is not just a rewatch of a cherished movie, but a technological leap into what cinematic storytelling can look like in immersive environments. AI’s role in media has already altered everything from editing workflows to voiceovers and deepfake recreations. But Sphere’s Wizard of Oz experience may be one of the first mainstream showcases of AI as a tool to re-contextualize, not recreate, beloved cultural works.

Rather than simply watching Dorothy follow the Yellow Brick Road, viewers might feel like they’re on it with her, surrounded by the technicolor fantasy of Oz in every direction. For many, this may be the closest they’ll ever come to stepping inside a classic film.

As the entertainment industry continues to grapple with AI’s role in content creation, the Sphere’s project could be a preview of what responsible, respectful, and artistic integration of AI might look like. It’s not about replacing the past, it’s about building new roads through it.