“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” Joins Sphere Lineup in 2027
Sphere has announced a new cinematic experience in the works, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Sphere’s creative team will presumably revamp this 1975 cult classic as it did “The Wizard of Oz,” which has turned out to be a major hit for the venue.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at Sphere is expected to open in 2027.
If you haven’t heard of “Rocky Horror,” you’re probably one of our fellow youths.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” started humbly as a low-budget, offbeat musical comedy-horror oddity starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Meat Loaf.
The story: A newly engaged, wholesome couple (Brad and Janet) get stranded in a storm and seek help at a spooky castle, where they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a flamboyant mad scientist from another planet. The plot quickly devolves into seduction, betrayal, murder, random musical numbers and a custom-built boy toy named Rocky. It’s weird and revels in giving repression the finger. Y’know, 1975.
The movie had a budget of $1.2 million. In its opening weekend, it made $21,245 from two theaters. In the parlance of the industry, it was a flop.
While the movie wasn’t a box office juggernaut right out of the gate, it found new life in midnight screenings, where audiences began talking back to the screen, dressing as the characters, throwing props and eventually performing along with the movie in “shadow casts.”
“Rocky Horror” was immersive before that was even a thing.
The movie has become a cultural phenomenon and is one of the most enduring cult movies in history.
It’s a safe space for theater kids, goths, drag queens, nerds and weirdos of all stripes. So, pretty much a perfect fit for Las Vegas.
“Rocky Horror” has now earned roughly $170 million in revenue.
Which is exactly what Sphere hopes the movie will do for, well, Sphere. Earn revenue. In case that weren’t clear.
Sphere’s $80 million A.I.-enhanced version of “The Wizard of Oz” at Sphere opened Aug. 28, 2025. Yes, we were the first to report the project was happening, thank you for asking.
Sphere says “Oz” has sold more than three million tickets and generated $400 million in sales. Tickets are about $100. For a movie released 87 years ago.
Despite the incredible success of “The Wizard of Oz” for Sphere, it has yet to generate a profit, and at its current pace won’t do so for 7-8 years. In other words, because it was so expensive to build Sphere, it hasn’t paid for itself, despite all the cheerleading.
Sphere Entertainment is the company that operates Sphere, part of Madison Square Garden Entertainment owned by the Dolan family, led by Jim Dolan. MSG Networks is also part of Sphere Entertainment. We are bored. Are you bored? Anyway, that context is needed because otherwise you can’t tell how well Sphere is doing.
In Q1 2026, the Sphere segment of Sphere Entertainment generated $266 million in revenue and $74.3 million in adjusted operating income, but posted a $24.9 million operating loss once you figure in things like depreciation and amortization.
It’s undeniable Sphere has momentum, but ignoring the cost of Sphere is like saying you’re rich but leaving out the part about the mortgage, credit card debt and video poker losses. This is a completely random example and in no way reflects the financial status of this blogger.
As mentioned, at the current adjusted operating income pace, Sphere could theoretically earn back its roughly $2.3 billion construction cost in about 7.7 years. That timeline improves if they find another “Oz,” and “Rocky Horror” might just fit the bill.
Sphere’s announcement about the “Rocky Horror” deal didn’t provide specifics about how the film will be Sphereified. Which is not, technically, a word, but it should be. Also acceptable are “Sphere’d,” “Spherized” or “Sphere-Embiggened.”
The obvious question, of course, is how Sphere will handle the sacred Rocky Horror traditions. Will costumes be encouraged? Will shouting callbacks be allowed? Will toast be banned because somebody could put an eye out?
Some of the classic “Rocky Horror” audience-participation elements include people dressing as characters, especially Frank-N-Furter, Columbia, Magenta, Riff Raff, Janet and Brad; shouting callbacks at the screen and doing “The Time Warp” dance in the aisles. If you’ve been to Sphere, you know that doing anything in the aisles could lead to serious accidents, so we trust there will be adjustments to many of those “Rocky Horror” traditions.
Props play a big part in the “Rocky Horror” ritual. Fans throw rice during the wedding scene, snap rubber gloves when Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) does, hold newspapers over their heads and spray water from squirt guns during the rain scene, use flashlights or glow sticks during “There’s a Light,” throw toast when Curry’s character proposes a toast, wear party hats during the dinner scene and toss playing cards when Frank sings “Cards for sorrow, cards for pain.”
It’s a lot and it makes a mess. Gird, Sphere janitorial staff.
The callbacks in “Rocky Horror” are often dirty, juvenile and very funny, which is part of the charm. The audience yells jokes, insults, responses and running commentary at the characters. “Oz” is 100% family-friendly; “Rocky Horror,” as we know it today, isn’t. That could get a tweak to avoid narrowing the potential audience.
We can just hear it now, “Mommy, what’s a transvestite and can we get one in the gift shop?”
At this point, it’s all speculation, but there’s no denying Sphere made all the right moves with “Oz,” so trust and leeway are warranted.
Ticket information, an opening date and running time haven’t been announced yet. The over-under on running time is 75, just like “Oz.” If it ain’t broke, don’t break it.
“Rocky Horror” runs 100 minutes, or one hour and 40 minutes. Don’t be surprised if 25 minutes of the R-rated parts of the film end up on the cutting room floor.
We’ll be watching this one closely.
“Rocky Horror” became “Rocky Horror” because audiences hijacked it. Sphere is a precision-controlled, high-priced, technologically fragile environment. Those Venn diagram circles don’t intuitively overlap.
“Rocky Horror” isn’t family-friendly, and employees didn’t sign up to vacuum toast out of haptic seats.
Can 3D audio beamforming and squirt guns peacefully coexist?
While “Rocky Horror” was a phenomenon, it still appealed mainly to a niche group of oddballs.
Sphere can probably make “Rocky Horror” bigger and wider and louder. The real trick will be keeping the subversive vibe intact while avoiding ruffling the feathers of normies from the Midwest and Europe so they can be gently guided toward the pricey cocktails and merch.
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