Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more. Good eye, Dorothy, but you’re not over the rainbow – you’re in Sin City. As we’ve reported, The Wizard of Oz is coming to the Sphere in Las Vegas, with the venue recently promoting the limited run by turning the exterior of the building into Dorothy’s house, complete with the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East (and her ruby slippers) underneath. And while that’s a pretty stunning visual to see in downtown Las Vegas, some may not be as impressed by how they are achieving what’s on the inside of the Sphere.
If you thought The Wizard of Oz in IMAX 3D was a questionable way to present the 1939 classic as it was in 2013, consider how much AI is being used to showcase it in the Sphere. For starters, yes, the overall intent is to fully immerse viewers in the merry old land of Oz, with Sphere president Jennifer Koester stating, “Imagine what it would be like to be in a tornado in the Sphere where you’ve got wind coming at you, you’ve got scents coming at you, you’ve got leaves coming at you, your hair is flying all over…You’re not going to watch a movie, you are going to live a movie. You’re going to feel it, to see it, to touch it, to smell it.” (There is no word on if real asbestos will be used to achieve maximum effect during the poppyfield sequence.)
These 4D-esque moments will no doubt dazzle many, but we do have to seriously question what has been done with the film itself. Remember, The Wizard of Oz was shot in 4:3 while the Sphere’s LED screen is a horse of a different color entirely, spanning 160,000 square feet. So how are the producers filling that massive screen? Yup, it’s AI. As Koester added, “We’ve gone and trained models alongside Google with archival footage about Wizard of Oz, footage from the Academy, the original film materials that represent the true life characters. And we’ve trained the models so that we can use AI to now give Dorothy legs in that image, because we know they were there, but we want them on the screen to fill the media plane.”
To hype the event, one of the producers on it, Jane Rosenthal, said, “So much of what’s in The Wizard of Oz that could naturally fit into an immersive environment like the Sphere. What you can do now, when you hear Judy Garland sing ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow,’ it’s a whole different emotional experience.” So, yes, we have people that don’t even know the song is called “Over the Rainbow” and not “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in charge…
Granted, the team behind The Wizard of Oz has gone ahead and done their research as far as obtaining original footage and materials, but there’s just something off here. Isn’t the sheer sight of Dorothy going from sepia to some of the most incredible Technicolor photography dazzling enough?
What do you think of AI being used in this way? Is it entirely unethical or is there no place like the Sphere?
