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Before I get into what I thought of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas, I wanted to explain what I, a refined and highfalutin gentleman of the cinema, was doing at The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas. And the answer is: I was doing the work everyone who cares about the survival of the cinema should be doing — looking for every possible way to bring the experience and the legacy of moviegoing to new audiences. Since I do care about cinema, I look at its current state clearly — not through hazy psychedelic glasses. What I see is a medium where its survival is… I won’t say in doubt yet, but it’s an open question. At any point during my lifetime, if you’d asked me: “Richard, will film as a major commercial art form be around in 10 years?” — I would have considered the question preposterous. It wouldn’t have been a question any more than you’d ask, “Will we still have peanut butter in 10 years?” or, more to the point, “Will we still have elections in 10 years?” I’m not going to go into the reasons (quick roll call: changing ways of consuming entertainment, feckless studios, inert exhibitors, etc., etc.) or point fingers here. But let’s just say, we’ve got a lot of people who seem determined to make a challenging situation worse. Given that! There is no higher priority for those who love film and want to keep it alive, not just as a museum piece, but as a vital, evolving, and dynamic part of the cultural conversation, than to think about how to bring people into the story of cinema. So when I heard a year or so ago that the biggest, newest, most eye-catching attraction in Las Vegas planned to make The Wizard of Oz a cornerstone of its business, I was intrigued and excited. Arriving in Las Vegas, there were signs of Wizard fever everywhere
At my hotel, tourists lined up to pose with a Wizard display:
And making my way to the Sphere itself, the most sought-after landmark on the Vegas skyline, Dorothy-fever:  And I enjoyed this touch:
The Wizard of Oz is probably the most referenced and evoked film in all film history, so it can feel a little like national wallpaper, but if you get past that, something is thrilling about a nearly 90-year-old film being the center of attention here at America’s bacchanal. Inside the Sphere lobby — actually just “Sphere lobby”; oddly, there is no definite article required as it’s just “Sphere” — is something like a futuristic spaceport, but on Thursday night, it was a little bit Kansas, and a little Emerald City.
So getting finally past the preamble, what was it like? It was f-ing amazing. Subscribe to The Ankler. to unlock the rest.Become a paying subscriber of The Ankler. to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you:
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