Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | June 17, 2026
Sphere in Las Vegas (no "the") is a gargantuan structure designed to advertise stuff but it also has a concert space inside to legitimize its primary agenda. While bands like U2 and Phish have taken advantage of its hyper-real technological abilities for some very trippy performances, the main attraction has been an "AI-enhanced" 4D screening of The Wizard of Oz, a nightmarish spectacle that takes one of the greatest pieces of cinema and bastardizes it to further line the pockets of James Dolan. Alas, it's been a big commercial hit so now Sphere is ready to ruin another piece of beloved film history: The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
In a press release, Sphere Studios announced that they will use "advanced technologies to enhance the original beloved 1975 film. Audiences should prepare to time warp back into the iconic madness of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Sphere, expected to open in 2027."
"Enhance." That definitely means AI, right?
Sphere is a 160,000 square-foot interior with a 16k resolution. The only way to blow up a movie to that size, one a 50-year-old film was never intended to be seen on, is to screw around with it in major ways. The Wizard of Oz's "enhancements" required a level of AI bastardizing that made one of the most beautiful films of all time look uncanny to the point of horrific. Expanding the screen beyond its original frame also meant using AI (presumably because they thought it'd be cheaper than adding actors and new sets) to create entirely new characters, settings, and mise-en-scene. And it all looked awful. Izzy from Be Kind Rewind delves into this in more detail so I highly recommend you watch her video. OH, and they also cut an entire 30 minutes out of the movie.
It's clear that Sphere wants to hijack as many movies as possible for this cheap-ish trick, given that The Wizard of Oz just passed $400 million in ticket sales. But there aren't a ton of films you could do this with, just in terms of commercial appeal. What has an enduring fanbase and enough IP recognition to pull in audiences over the course of several years? Why not the most beloved cult musical ever made? But how would this work? Are they going to cut out musical numbers? What will the AI "enhancement" add? This was a cheaply made movie designed to evoke schlocky '50s sci-fi B-movies. It's meant to look kind of ramshackle. How would that work if you need to blow it up to this massive screen and add tons of extemporaneous sh*t in the frame? And given that we're in the midst of a massive anti-queer pushback, culturally and legislatively, will Dolan, Trump's BFF, demand changes to one of the greatest works in LGBTQ+ cinema?
There are so many questions I need answers from, but mostly I, and every other person who respects film history, hates this to the very core of my being. Billionaires and media monopolies get to chop up, edit, and sully art over and over again with no repercussions. They get to literally own the rights to people's likenesses, as someone does with the late Judy Garland. They get to exploit fans and screw over creators. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a big flop upon release and it became a phenomenon because audiences fought to keep it alive through midnight screenings, shadow-plays, and drag shows. If it were released in 2026 and underperformed, the studio would probably try to delete it for a tax write-off.
Fans, stay away. Do not bless this monstrosity with the Time Warp.
