A preview of the Atrium experience for "The Wizard of Oz at Sphere" in Las Vegas. Ethan Miller/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment "This is the moment that we've been waiting for. We're finally off to see the Wizard," James Dolan told the crowd at Las Vegas' Sphere on Thursday night as the venue debuted its immersive Wizard of Oz experience. Dolan, the executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment Co., welcomed guests to the world premiere while himself channeling that titular wizard, dressed in head-to-toe emerald - complete with a green top hat. His fellow execs followed suit, each dressed as one of the film's main characters, including Sphere president and chief operating officer Jennifer Koester as Dorothy and producer Jane Rosenthal as Glinda the Good Witch. Related Stories Business James Dolan and David Zaslav Appear as "Two-Second Characters" in the Sphere's 'Wizard of Oz' TV Why Oscar Nuñez Was the Only 'The Office' Star Brought Back for 'The Paper' "What you're about to see tonight is our most powerful example yet of experiential storytelling in this new medium," Dolan promised the crowd. "For the first time, you're going to feel like you're part of the story. You'll see the film at unparalleled scale and resolution; you'll hear Judy Garland's voice with breathtaking new clarity, and yes, you will experience what it feels like to be inside a tornado. I can tell you, anybody can blow wind in your face; not anybody can make you feel like you're in a tornado." A look inside #WizardofOz at @sphere ahead of its opening night pic.twitter.com/zOrV8IFfB9- The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 28, 2025 Rosenthal, who called working on the project the highlight of her career, invited guests to "close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and say it with me: There's no place like Sphere. There's no place like Sphere. There's no place like Sphere." What they've created at the venue is indeed a very unique experience. Upon arrival, attendees - many of whom donned looks straight out of the Emerald City for opening night - enter the Sphere's Atrium, with a hot air balloon and flying monkey hanging from the ceiling and a menacing Wizard of Oz head staring down from above. The room is drenched in sepia tones to really put one in the Kansas mindset (and later at exit turns technicolor to reflect Emerald City) but quickly upon entering the theater, it's clear we're not in Kansas anymore. The tornado inside the Sphere Sphere Entertainment Before the film begins, the 160,000 square foot LED screen is designed to look like Radio City - another Dolan property - with the curtain down and sound of an orchestra tuning up in the background. Then it's off to the races, as viewers are thrown into the world of Oz. The tornado that brings Dorothy to that magical land is likely the standout moment, as massive fans create a huge wind storm - complete with smoke and flying leaves - in the venue to coincide with the moment on screen. At the premiere, guests were shrieking and holding onto their seats like they were on a rollercoaster; popcorn and snacks that had been picked up in the lobby beforehand flew across the room. But that's far from the only immersive element - the venue's chairs jolt and shake whenever the Wicked Witch makes an appearance, toy apples fall from the sky when Dorothy fights with a talking tree and bubbles float down when Glinda uses her powers to cause a snowstorm. Columns of fire shoot into the air with the arrival of the Wizard, and electronic flying monkeys soar around the dome in another scene. The Sphere also re-recorded the orchestral score and made new sound effects for the film, while preserving the original dialogue and vocals. Wizard Of Oz At Sphere Sphere Entertainment A.I. is used to fill out scenes to a 360-degree feel - in Dorothy's home, for example, there's now a roof overhead and walls to both sides; for outdoor scenes, there's a heavily detailed sky and trees surrounding the characters. At a walkthrough with media on Thursday morning, visual effects specialist Ben Grossmann told reporters that when it came to using A.I., "We had a choice. We could either hire modern artists to reanimate those performances by hand, which we felt would destroy the integrity of the original performance," or embrace "a new technology that allows you to train on things that existed before it, so that it can reproduce those things accurately. And then we tested it for two years to make sure that if we used A.I., we would actually have more integrity to the original performances than if we didn't, because the only other alternatives were computer graphics that would be humans manipulating the performance." Dolan added that he doesn't "really think that it's a fair criticism" over the use of A.I. and wants people to