Report: 'Wizard' production would cost Sphere $80M
Published in Entertainment News
LAS VEGAS — Luring the flying monkeys into the Sphere will cost $80 million, or $1 million a minute, according to a published report.
A truncated version of “The Wizard of Oz” is edging close to reality for the bulbous wonder, according to a report from the New York Post published Monday. Citing sources, the Post says Sphere Entertainment Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan is spending $80 million on the 80-minute project.
Sphere officials have declined comment on the report.
Dolan and officials from Warner Brothers, which holds the film’s licensing, are said to be “nearing a deal,” according to the pub. But an independent source familiar with the planning says WB has not yet approved the project’s “creative vision.”
The Sphere-ical adaptation of the 1939 classic would run about 20 minutes shorter than its original 105-minute theatrical length. The original Technicolor film needs to be transferred to the Sphere’s vaunted, wrap-around, 18K, LED technology.
The timeline is not established, but it would be in the distant future. Serious work on the production, to be enacted at the Sphere’s Big Dome prototype in Burbank, California, has not even started.
“Postcard From Earth,” from filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, continues to run up to three times a day. The theatrical event is paired with the Atrium preshow under the title “Sphere Experience,” drawing between 1,000-5,000 per showing. Tickets run about $105-$275 apiece, and that project is the Sphere’s lead revenue source.
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