The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere (in Las Vegas)

[Fenway55]

Haven't seen any conversation here so I thought I would start one...... So is anyone besides me interested in seeing this? I will be in Vegas in October so my hope is that it is showing while I am there. Here is an interesting "making of" video to show us what we are getting.

The Wizard of Oz is not my personal fave, but it is certainly an all time classic. I hope I get a change to see it on the big big BIG screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01dsTigSmw&t=1147s

[Prohibida]

I have to go there one day.

[Moviefan2k4]

I have to admit that while the visuals for this look impressive, I'm not a fan of the spherical picture shape and the artificial zooming used to create more depth. It's distracting more than anything else, at least for me. I wonder what the cast's descendants think of this, because I feel it pushes the revisionism boundary too far. A great deal of the original's charm was how many tricks they had to pull to make everything work, due to the limitations of the time. There's new films made now that don't have the same overall quality as this classic, and I think that should be honored.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Fenway55

Haven't seen any conversation here so I thought I would start one...... So is anyone besides me interested in seeing this? I will be in Vegas in October so my hope is that it is showing while I am there. Here is an interesting "making of" video to show us what we are getting.

The Wizard of Oz is not my personal fave, but it is certainly an all time classic. I hope I get a change to see it on the big big BIG screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01dsTigSmw&t=1147s

The man has nearly 10K subscribers and this vid got 3K likes, even though he has no idea what he's talking about. Even the comments call him out.

[Farerb]

Vandalism.

[sandman slim]

Originally Posted by Farerb

Vandalism.

Agreed, and kind of an odd choice. Something like 2001 would work much better for this format/venue. The visuals on the Dawn of Man & trip sequences would be sensory overload.

[Zivouhr]

If their goal is to make the movie immersive, I guess they already covered having the viewer put on the Meta VR headset and then seeing every scene in the movie but expanding the scenery so it's everywhere you turn your face to look all around, as with all VR games being immersive and in stereo 3D most times.

I saw Wizard of Oz 3D back when that was presented in 3D in theaters, and the blu ray 3D too. A decent to good conversion with mostly medium 3D layering but never above that sadly.

This looks like one of those Imax theme park screens, where the screen is gigantic and curves. The 3D in those with the 3D glasses can be impressive to the point the objects floating is inches from the 3D glasses worn.

[BradS89]

"The Wizard of Oz" as you've never seen it before - YouTube

For the Sphere I guess this is cool and makes sense, but I hope they don't release this in a version formatted for 4k/Blu-ray to try and make it the definitive version of the film from now into the future. But I have a strong feeling that's where it's headed. And will happen with more and more classic films shot only in 4:3

[Fenway55]

Got my tickets for October 14.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by BradS89

I hope they don't release this in a version formatted for 4k/Blu-ray to try and make it the definitive version of the film from now into the future.

I’d wager a VR or AVP release is much more likely due to the “immersive” nature of the presentation, but this really should be considered sacrilege, especially since most of what you will be seeing now is AI-created.

If a director makes something new, intended for the Sphere? That’s different, it’s a new art form and if someone wants to make stuff that’s best enjoyed in it, well, they should be able to.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by BradS89

"The Wizard of Oz" as you've never seen it before - YouTube

For the Sphere I guess this is cool and makes sense, but I hope they don't release this in a version formatted for 4k/Blu-ray to try and make it the definitive version of the film from now into the future. But I have a strong feeling that's where it's headed. And will happen with more and more classic films shot only in 4:3

That's a lot of money for something that would be easier to do if they artfully cropped it. It doesn't make it right but if you were going to make it to fit your TV. Just crop it well. It'd be adjusting on what you have to make sense but it can be done. We did a half ass cropping back when. But if you want to go to your idea of execution. Just crop it well. Much less expensive than all the hooplah you're suggesting.

[BradS89]

Originally Posted by Mr. Chaverria

That's a lot of money for something that would be easier to do if they artfully cropped it. It doesn't make it right but if you were going to make it to fit your TV. Just crop it well. It'd be adjusting on what you have to make sense but it can be done. We did a half ass cropping back when. But if you want to go to your idea of execution. Just crop it well. Much less expensive than all the hooplah you're suggesting.

That's what I meant by formatting this AI Sphere version of the film they've made for home video, all they'd need to do is do a center cut in 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 and put it on disc. I just wouldn't want this version to become THE version released from now on making the original 4:3 remasters harder and harder to find on disc.

Imagine seeing "OOP The Wizard of Oz 4:3 Remaster UHD Blu-ray" on ebay one day for an insane amount of money. I do not want that future for ANY classic films turned into this AI generated editions

[BradS89]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

I’d wager a VR or AVP release is much more likely due to the “immersive” nature of the presentation, but this really should be considered sacrilege, especially since most of what you will be seeing now is AI-created.

If a director makes something new, intended for the Sphere? That’s different, it’s a new art form and if someone wants to make stuff that’s best enjoyed in it, well, they should be able to.

Oh I'm totally fine with completely new media being released this way, it just scares me with the classics being released this way.

[CouchTater]

I'm going to be in Vegas in October as well and was hoping to visit the Sphere, but this isn't appealing to me at all (especially for the price). Do something totally new that was created for the experience, don't try and forward port something that exists.

[Zivouhr]

I also saw that Sunday Morning TV show revealing the giant screen and how they used AI to expand the image and have actors move into view from areas never filmed.

It looks cool in 16K resolution with Dbox type effects with the mist and wind, etc. I guess that's only viewable in Las Vegas and nowhere else. I'll never go see it live but it looks fun. Only thing missing is the 3D version (which I have on blu ray 3D).

[Sage00]

Saw a clip where Dorothy meets Scarecrow, and it looked like really bad green screen.

[dancerslegs]

Revisionist AI slop. Hard pass.

[Show spoiler]I don’t really care much for the film either, so very easy decision, admittedly.

[BradS89]

Originally Posted by Sage00

Saw a clip where Dorothy meets Scarecrow, and it looked like really bad green screen.

That's what bothers me the most, they haven't just expanded the image beyond what we already see. But in every shot shown you can see they've used the generative AI footage to replace some if not all of the original footage around the actors. So those painted backgrounds are just gone

[Poya]

Originally Posted by dancerslegs

Revisionist AI slop. Hard pass.

[Show spoiler]I don’t really care much for the film either, so very easy decision, admittedly.

Dude, Star Wars wouldn't exist without this movie.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Poya

Dude, Star Wars wouldn't exist without this movie.

Not true. The main inspiration behind Star Wars was Flash Gordon; Lucas wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie but couldn't get the rights so he come up with an original story.

Yes, it's true he drew inspiration from a number of sources, including TWoO, but if that movie hadn't existed, then he still would have created Star Wars. He was probably familiar with the original books, for one thing. His childhood mostly predated television, so he turned to comics, movies and radio serials. There was no shortage of various mythic tales to inspire him.