Google, with the help of artificial intelligence, completely transformed ‘The Wizard of Oz‘ to fit the 160,000-square-foot screen at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The first-of-its-kind experience will open on August 28.
It is going to be unlike anything you have ever seen before!
The Wizard of Oz is an 86-year-old movie based on a novel written in 1900. Judy Garland, who plays Dorothy, would be 103 years old today if she was still alive. The Oscar-winning motion picture was considered groundbreaking at the time because of its use of Technicolor, a three-strip coloring process that brought the vibrant and saturated colors of Oz to the screen in contrast to the back-and-white scenes set in Kansas.
Technology is obviously far more advanced today than it was in 1939. And yet, the film will once again revolutionize the film industry in just a few months.
Thousands of researchers, programmers, visual effects artists, archivists and producers at Google DeepMind, Google Cloud are working alongside Sphere Studios, Magnopus and Warner Bros. Discovery to completely overhaul ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The plot itself is going to stay exactly the same. The coloring will stay true to the original release. Not a single line of new dialogue was added, nor a note of new music. Everything about the movie is going to look like it did during World War II except the dimensions.
‘The Wizard of Oz’ is the first movie to be reimagined for the Sphere in Las Vegas. Perhaps it will help to counteract the rapid decline of tourism in the Entertainment Capital of the World. Perhaps it will flop.
Either way, there is no way to discount the technological feat.
The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere in Las Vegas will be the first movie of its kind.
The Sphere features a massive wraparound screen comprised of 64,000 LED tiles. It covers 160,000 square feet with 16K x 16K LED resolution. The Wizard of Oz debuted with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio on a screen no larger than 65-feet by 30-feet. The screen at the Sphere is approximately 160 times bigger.
Google is taking the lead on this project. Generative AI will be used to break cinematic boundaries.
We’re starting with the original four-by-three image on a 35mm piece of celluloid — it’s actually three separate, grainy film negatives; that’s how they shot Technicolor. That obviously won’t work on a screen that is 160,000 square feet. So we’re working with Sphere Studios, Magnopus and visual effects artists around the world, alongside our AI models, to effectively bring the original characters and environments to life on a whole new canvas — creating an immersive entertainment experience that still respects the original in every way.
— Buzz Hays
The Google teams and their partners developed an AI-based “super resolution” tool to take the tiny celluloid frames from 1939 and turn them into ultra-high definition imagery for the Sphere. From there, they are using AI out-painting to fill the gaps created by framing limitations and camera cuts. Finally, performance generation incorporates composites from the movie into expanded environments.
CGI struggles to match the natural gestures, staging and fine details of the original film to such a large and unconventional screen. AI can.
When you have innovation like this, you don’t always know where it’s going to go. You have to be able to take a leap of faith. What you’re going to see in ‘The Wizard of Oz at Sphere’ is clearly a leap of faith.
— James Dolan, CEO of Sphere Entertainment
This new experience will rollout at the end of August. Google and the Sphere believe it is on track to do so but there is always a chance that it could get bumped back. We’ll see.
Either way, on time or not, heed warning before you purchase tickets to see one of the most iconic movies of all-time at the Sphere. Obstructed views can completely ruin the entire experience. Before to check the view from your seats before you go!
Content shared from brobible.com.