Following last week’s announcement that “The Wizard of Oz” is coming to the Las Vegas Sphere, the team behind the Sphere, in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, Google Cloud and creative tech innovator Magnopus, revealed that they are using generative AI and an advanced computing architecture to create the immersive, multisensory experience aimed at capturing the “visionary spirit” of the 1939 classic.
“The Wizard of Oz at Sphere,” which will open Aug. 28, is using Google Cloud’s AI to upscale and “reimagine” the classic, while using Google Cloud infrastructure to support the massive data processing and rendering requirements. The collaboration also marks the start of a broader AI partnership between Sphere Entertainment and Google Cloud.
The 1939 Warner Bros. film was made with a three-strip Technicolor 35mm motion picture camera, which at the time was state of the art. The new digital version will come to Sphere’s 160,000-square-foot wraparound interior LED display, which boasts 16K by 16K resolution.
Google Cloud and Google DeepMind are employing Gemini models, Veo 2 and Imagen 3 to enhance the film’s resolution, as well as to expand backgrounds to fill the screen and digitally recreate existing characters who would otherwise not appear on the same screen. An estimated 1.2 petabytes of data have already been processed for the project.
Sphere is also working with Los Angeles-based studio Magnopus, founded by VFX Academy Award winners Ben Grossman and Alex Henning (“Hugo”).
“The power of generative AI, combined with Google’s infrastructure and expertise, is helping us to achieve something extraordinary,” said Jim Dolan, executive chairman and CEO, Sphere Entertainment. “We needed a partner who could push boundaries alongside our teams at Sphere Studios and Magnopus, and Google was the only company equipped to meet the challenge on the world’s highest resolution LED screen.”
“Our partnership with Sphere on ‘The Wizard of Oz at Sphere’ is a great example of pushing the boundaries of generative AI to deliver exciting new experiences for audiences – and new opportunities for studios and filmmakers,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. “We are honored to play a role in such an ambitious project to bring a classic piece of Americana to an entirely new generation of audiences.”
