Since tickets for the redesigned version of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Las Vegas Sphere went on sale on June 10, more than 120K have been sold.  Additionally, by the time the film releases on August 28, 200K copies are anticipated to be sold, with prices starting at $100 each, according to James Dolan, CEO of parent company Sphere Entertainment.

“We’re very proud of the product, and we think it’s groundbreaking,” Dolan said during Sphere Entertainment’s earnings call Monday. “We think that it’s going to draw a lot of attention and that people who come to Vegas are going to want to go.”

"The Wizard of Oz" might boost the number of people who visit the Sphere in Las Vegas from 7% to over 10%, according to Dolan.  (In other words, 2.9 million visitors make up 7% of the 42 million visitors to Las Vegas, whereas 4.2 million visitors make up 10%.)

In order to fill its 160K square foot digital screen with actors and objects that were previously hidden outside the camera's frame, the film used artificial intelligence (AI) to fully re-render the 1939 cinematic classic, removing the majority of close-ups and "outpainting" almost every scene.  (The Sphere's version emphasizes spatial immersion, which makes it feel more like a 4D stage performance, whereas the original mostly relied on close-ups for emotional resonance.)

The performers' voices were separated from the soundtrack, sonically enhanced, and then combined with re-recorded orchestral performances for the audio, which will be played through 167K cutting-edge speakers.

Additionally, the audience is drawn into important scenes by wind effects and fragrances, particularly the tornado, where fans that are 12 feet tall blow up fog, leaves, hay, and debris that surrounds the audience.

Only roughly 10,000 of the 18,600 seats in the Sphere will have haptic technology, which is intended to rumble with the tornado, open Oz's gates, and flutter with the flying monkeys.  Instead of the 400th (highest) level, those seats are in the 200th and 300th levels.

The Spin of the Sphere

There are already 465 screenings available on Ticketmaster, and even if expectations are fulfilled and 200K tickets are sold before opening day, it still won't be enough to fill the Globe Wonder 11 times.

An alternative perspective on the story is that, by opening day, only 200K of the 8.65 million tickets that are available are anticipated to be sold.

Producing and licensing the movie cost the Sphere $80 million, which Dolan described as "not an inexpensive project" on the earnings call.

Although its adjusted operating profitability was more than double that of the second quarter of the previous year, Sphere Entertainment's second-quarter sales fell short of the analysts' estimates as surveyed by FactSet.