A new, immersive version of The Wizard of Oz is headed for the Sphere in Las Vegas this summer.
Sphere Entertainment said the updated presentation of the 1939 classic will be shown on August 28. A new film, From the Edge, directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Oscar winners for Free Solo), is slated for 2026. Both titles are productions of Sphere Studios.
Collaborating on the new Wizard of Oz are Warner Bros. Discovery, Google and design studio Magnopus. The Wizard of Oz at Sphere will “maintain the integrity of the original,” a press release emphasized, “while pushing the boundaries of Sphere’s experiential medium.”
The creative team behind the updated Wizard includes producer Jane Rosenthal; visual effects specialist Ben Grossmann (an Oscar winner for Hugo), editor Jennifer Lame (an Oscar winner for Oppenheimer) and Zack Winokur, a director and producer who is also creative director of New York’s “Little Island.”
From The Edge will feature athletes like free diver Alenka Artnik, skier Markus Eder, rock climber Alex Honnold, BASE jumper Katie Hansen Lajeunesse, and surfer Kai Lenny, taking audiences inside the world of extreme sports.
All five athletes are being captured on location by Big Sky, Sphere Entertainment’s proprietary camera system, which was developed to capture images at the scale and fidelity necessary for Sphere’s display. Filming is under way in locations in Jordan, Dubai, Switzerland, the Bahamas, Austin, Las Vegas, and Maui.
From The Edge is produced by Vasarhelyi and Chin and their Little Monster Films along with Evan Hayes and Callum Greene. Executive Producers are Anna Barnes (Little Monster Films) and Nick Martini (Stept Studios).
After a U2 concert opened the $2.3 billion Sphere in October 2023, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth screened there, establishing the venue as a place for film. A scale replica of the Sphere was built in Burbank, enabling Sphere Studios to engage with the Hollywood community on a slate of projects and familiarize them with Big Sky.
“Our goal for The Sphere Experience is a diverse slate that leverages Sphere’s power as an experiential medium,” Sphere Entertainment CEO Jim Dolan said. “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere and From The Edge will push that vision forward in different ways.”
