Opening August 8, 2025! According to an exclusive via The Hollywood Reporter:
When The Sphere in Las Vegas opens its doors for The Wizard of Oz next month, visitors will find themselves in the middle of a twister—and not just because of the massive 160,000 square foot LED screen that wraps around them.
Executives at the Sphere reveal their version of the classic 1939 film, debuting August 28, will feature immersive, real-world physical effects “at a scale that I don’t think anyone else has done before,” according to Glenn Derry, EVP of MSG Ventures and the tech visionary behind the venue’s mind-bending capabilities.
That means: When that tornado hits Kansas, the 10,000-seat venue will erupt with wind whipping at your face, leaves flying past, and bolts of lightning cutting through swirling fog and haze.
“One of the big sequences in the film is when we’re transported to Oz from the Gale family farm… you transition into color, into Oz,” Derry notes. “We wanted that to be truly enormous, something they couldn’t have done in 1939, but we were able to reimagine it and make you feel like you’re actually there.”
With 13 million cubic feet of air, the Sphere team engineered a custom effects rig: fog, haze, leaves—all layered and synced—before unleashing 12-foot-tall, 750-horsepower fans built from electric vehicle motors.
“It’s like an orchestra,” Derry says. “We create a great, giant plume to fill the venue with a cloud… like entering a dream sequence.”
And that’s only the beginning. Once Dorothy reaches Oz, guests confront towering flames and smoke surrounding the ghostly projection of the Wizard declaring, “I am Oz, the great and powerful!” Derry promises in-room flames so intense, the audience will feel the heat.
Then come the flying monkeys.
Derry’s team developed a system for actual winged creatures to soar above the crowd, invading the space from above in one of the Sphere’s most technically complex spectacles yet.
The immersive Wizard of Oz experience is a culminating moment for the venue—which has hosted music residencies and Postcard from Earth—but this production marks its leap into 3D space. It blends a reimagined, AI-enhanced version of the film, a re-recorded score, and never-before-seen physical effects. Sphere chairman James Dolan, who conceived the venue, demanded this dreamlike intensity.
“We have other flying creatures and fun surprises,” Derry says, “like apples thrown at Scarecrow and Dorothy appearing out of nowhere—right before they rescue the Tin Man.”
The Sphere, working with Warner Bros. Discovery, Google, and Magnopus, aims to leave jaws dropped. Audiences won’t just watch Dorothy get swept from Kansas… they’ll live it.
