AI-enhanced, immersive ‘Wizard of Oz’ debuts in Las Vegas

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By Lisa Richwine

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -Swirling winds, drone-operated monkeys and artificial intelligence brought new life to “The Wizard of Oz” on Thursday at the premiere of an immersive version of the Hollywood classic in Las Vegas.

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

Premiere attendees included Lorna Luft, whose mother Judy Garland played Dorothy in the movie.

“We are finally off to see the wizard!” Sphere Entertainment CEO 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.”

Some cinema lovers have recoiled at the idea of tinkering with a classic film. Workers in Hollywood also are wary that artificial intelligence will be used to replace human work.

Dolan said audiences would be wowed by the new “Wizard of Oz” experience.

“For the first time, you’re going to feel like you’re part of the story,” he said.

Reworking the film took more than two years and 2,000 people, including the Sphere’s creative team, Google’s DeepMind researchers and Warner Bros Discovery executives. The film has been updated and AI has been used to make it watchable on Sphere’s giant, wraparound screen.

AI restored tiny celluloid frames into today’s high definition and filled in details such as freckles on Dorothy’s face. Proponents see it as a potential watershed moment in Hollywood’s use of AI tools.

The Sphere added off-screen elements such as fans that kicked up wind and blew leaf-shaped confetti when the tornado swept Dorothy’s farmhouse into the sky. Sixteen-foot (4.88-metre) helium-filled monkeys flew overhead as the Wicked Witch plotted Dorothy’s demise.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine, Editing by Timothy Heritage)