Where Did Las Vegas Go Wrong. — Page 3

For the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, they edited out 27 minutes and added in a lot of things that were not in the movie. “If I were king of the forest” is completely gone. They also cut four minutes out of the munchkin scene. There were several other trims throughout the entire movie to bring it down to 75 minutes so they could get turnover in the seats.

The AI background expanded practically every frame of the movie and looks very cheap. They added extra characters generated by AI that look like lifeless zombies. Often the principal characters were trimmed out of the movie frame and reinserted over very fake looking backgrounds.

The tornado scene is a mess. There are a lot of cuts and changes. There’s a shot of Dorothy looking out the window of the house. They also have Toto floating around outside in the eye of the tornado. 

A lot of junk is falling on the audience, including paper leaves, fake snow, and Styrofoam apples that are already ending up on eBay for $400. They have flying monkeys made out of some type of plastic that are hovering over the audience. 

During the tornado scene there is a lot of wind blowing on people. The seats are vibrating. And they have real fire. They did show restraint, however, and refrained from dropping a large house on 40 people in the audience. 

The theater sounds like a terrible echo chamber. And the extended background looks like something used for a zoom meeting. 

Tickets are ranging from $200-$1000.

 

Oh no not the AI!!

A friend and I were going to go to see it. No interest now that they have edited it down. It only runs 1 hour and 42 minutes. That is only 12 minutes longer then Cirque's "O".  We had actually planned to see both but I will just do "O" on the trip and save my money and not see "...OZ". 

Bwaygurl2 said: "I'm not pearl clutching about the Sphere Wizard of Oz, but it looks like dog **** from everything I've seen."

I saw it Saturday and isn't dog poop.  It is a VERY mixed bag, but I'm glad to have seen it.  I didn't go to see The Wizard of Oz.  I've seen it over and over.  I went to see how they were using The Wizard of Oz with all of this new tech.  From that perspective it was a great time.  I'd disagree with the poster who thought the tornado scene was a mess - I thought it was thrilling. 

I don't dislike AI.  To me, it is a tool the same way a paintbrush is a tool - it's all about who's using it and how well.  They miss here a lot of the time, but when all of the blending is done properly it is spectacular.  Granted, that's about 10% of the time.  

This is an excellent anonymous review of the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere theater that I found online:

”This is a one star so that the production team reads this. I enjoyed my night out. I love what you've accomplished and hope that this feedback can help improve things for future shows. This film comes incredibly close to being a masterpiece, but to go from a 9 to a 10 the visual effects needed polish. From what was shared about the production process, it seems the filmmakers chose a faster production timeline, relying on a new AI technology to create the visuals. While the generative AI technology from Google is ground breaking and impressive, the lack of attention to detail left me feeling that this was a fancy tech demo rather than a remastered film. It lacked the polish and artistry audiences have come to expect from VFX powerhouses like Marvel and Pixar. The cracks in the visual effects were noticeable to me and pulled me out of the story throughout the whole show. For instance, the computer-generated elements often looked like they don't belong in the same world as the live-action actors. It reminded me of playing the old-school video game Myst. This is due to several issues that, with more time and attention, could have been fixed: Unconvincing Lighting: The lighting on the CGI creations doesn't match up with the real-world scenes. This can make Dorthy and other characters look flat and pasted onto the screen rather than being a natural part of the environment. When a major event like a magical glow or an explosion happens in the CGI, the light on the real actors doesn't change to reflect it, which breaks the illusion. Mismatched Lighting: The subtle lighting of the computer-generated parts of the film doesn't always blend seamlessly with the footage of the real actors and locations. This makes the CGI elements stand out in a way that feels artificial. It's hard to superimpose studio lighting and vast outside landscapes without compromise. I wish they would have done more work here. Unnatural Movement: At times, the movement of CGI characters and objects can appear jittery and unnatural. A common and distracting issue is when characters' feet seem to glide or float over the ground instead of making solid contact, a telltale sign of rushed visual effects. Also there were times when visual elements stuttered while the character was moving which is an animation issue. In summary, the filmmakers missed the opportunity to incorporate the detailed work of visual effects artists who add the necessary layers to create a truly immersive and magical experience. Had they taken the time to integrate this expertise, they could have elevated a great film to that next level.”

This all just feels so desperate to find something to put in this overpriced venue.   There are only so many musical acts who they can book for it, and the groups probably get a healthy cut of the take.   

About showgirl shows: supposedly Dita Von Teese's show uses some of the original costumes from Jubilee.  I wanted to book it for my trip next month, but then there was the sale on Cirque shows, so my wallet spoke & I bought some $50 tickets to see Ka & MJ One again instead.  O also had $50 seats but I enjoyed those 2 a bit more.

Updated On: 9/1/25 at 03:24 PM

Are there still men handing out cards with strippers on them?  I only went to Vegas once as a small child, that’s the only thing I remember 

TheatreFan4 said: "And it's literally just an omnimax dome that's been used for decades."

Having just seen it, I knew this assertion seemed wrong so I threw it into the big brain.  Per ClaudeAI:

Scale and technology: The Sphere is massive - 366 feet high and 516 feet wide - with the world's largest LED screen wrapping around its interior. Traditional omnimax theaters use film projection onto much smaller domes (typically 50-80 feet in diameter).


Display technology: While omnimax uses film projectors, the Sphere uses 16K x 16K LED panels with over 160 million pixels, creating incredibly sharp, bright imagery that can be seen clearly even in ambient light.


Audio system: The Sphere has a revolutionary spatial audio system with over 160,000 speakers that can create highly localized sound experiences - you can hear different audio depending on exactly where you're sitting.


Immersion level: The Sphere's display extends much further into your peripheral vision than typical omnimax domes, and the combination of the massive scale, LED brightness, and spatial audio creates a more intense sensory experience.


Haptic elements: The Sphere can incorporate physical effects like wind, scents, and vibrations that aren't part of traditional omnimax experiences.


So while both use dome-shaped screens for immersive viewing, the Sphere represents a significant technological leap beyond the omnimax concept, creating what's essentially a new category of entertainment venue.

 

And they're surprised that they're running out of people willing to spend $200 for that 

SIX did two runs in Vegas and the results were just ok, surprising since the running time is already suited for this particular type of audience. I think people visiting Vegas are more interested in the Cirque type spectacles.

PabloJuan said: "On eBay, people have been selling those cheap Styrofoam apples that are dropped from the ceiling at the Wizard of Oz Sphere. Some of the prices are listed up to $500. An employee at the theater said that they drop 900 of those apples at every single performance. He encouraged people not to buy them on eBay.

If anyone who really knows the movie actually saw this, it would be great to hear details of what was cut from the 141 minutes to reduce it to a 75 minute running time.

"

Scroll down to the bottom and he's compiled a fairly comprehensive list.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-172375201 

PabloJuan said: "On eBay, people have been selling those cheap Styrofoam apples that are dropped from the ceiling at the Wizard of Oz Sphere. Some of the prices are listed up to $500. An employee at the theater said that they drop 900 of those apples at every single performance. He encouraged people not to buy them on eBay.

If anyone who really knows the movie actually saw this, it would be great to hear details of what was cut from the 141 minutes to reduce it to a 75 minute running time.

I often look for good deals myself. I recently came across https://notgamstop.co.com/bonuses/free-spins-no-deposit-no-gamstop/ where they give a bonus for playing. I tried it and it really works, so I would like to share.

"

I'm curious too, 75 minutes is a huge cut. Which scenes or songs were removed or shortened?!

Updated On: 6/11/26 at 01:06 AM

Where did Vegas go wrong? I’ll go back further. It’s when they started catering to families and attempted to transform into another Disneyland. I was done after seeing strollers in the casinos. It went from being a cool adult playground to a kiddie playground. No thanks.