Sphere Touts 500,000 Tickets Sold for “Wizard of Oz” Reboot

By Scott Roeben, on September 19 2025
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It may be a 90-year-old movie, but “Wizard of Oz” is a hit all over again at Sphere Las Vegas.

The venue recently shared it has sold 500,000 tickets to the slimmed down, A.I.-augmented take on the cinematic classic. The movie opened at Sphere on Aug. 28, 2025.

That works out to be $65 million in ticket sales so far. The movie cost $80 million to retool for Sphere’s glorious screen.

That’s right, the Wicked Witch and Nikko the flying monkey were standing over a sphere. A.I. added the cash. Ah, the circularity of the universe.

Another fun fact: Sphere sold more than 280,000 tickets in just the 15 days following its debut at the venue.

In layperson’s jargon: That’s a metric shit-ton of tickets.

This is the part of our story where we remind everyone that we were the first to share news Sphere would be bringing “Wizard of Oz” to its screen. A full two months before any other media outlet. This is not bragging. It’s a factual recounting of events exactly as they happened.

Sensing a theme yet?

While Sphere isn’t profitable yet due to its ungodly construction cost ($2.3 billion), heavy debt load and interest expenses, along with high fixed and operating costs, but “Wizard of Oz” is definitely a step in the right direction.

On the bright side, Sphere’s losses are getting smaller, so there’s that.

Did we predict an old-timey movie refreshed for an IMAX screen would sell 500,000 tickets? As the kids say, hell-to-the-no.

The “Oz” in author L. Frank Baum’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” comes from the filing cabinet in his office. There were drawers labeled A–N and O–Z. The rest is history.

Sphere’s reinvented “Wizard of Oz” wasn’t guaranteed to be a success. There was controversy right out of the gate.

Purists lost their minds when they heard the running time would be cut from the original 102 minutes to about 75 minutes.

You can tell the Sphere version of “Wizard of Oz” was made for Las Vegas because the line “Hey, poppies!” was changed to “Ay, papi!”

Some have said this “Wizard of Oz” isn’t the real “Wizard of Oz.” A.I. fills in parts of the frame with things that didn’t exist in the original movie. You know, compromising the visual integrity of a timeless classic.

Meh. This isn’t really about the movie. It’s about the experience.

Audiences are treated to not only the visual spectacle, but also sensory effects.

Sphere’s “Oz”-travaganza layers in wind gusts, fog, rumbling seats, scents, snow, bubbles, flying monkeys, fire bursts and even raining apples (made of spongy foam) to turn the movie into a sensory feast.

This ain’t your grandpa’s “Wizard of Oz.” Honestly, your grandpa would probably have a cardiac arrest seeing tickets range from $100 to $350. To watch a movie. In Las Vegas. Hey, we aren’t going to yuck anyone’s yum. Unless it’s cigar smokers. They’re douche canoes.

Reviews have been largely positive, mainly because many of our fellow youths attending the show have never seen the original “Wizard of Oz,” so they have nothing to compare it to.

“Wizard of Oz” has been an undeniable success for the venue, and Sphere has become a must-do in Las Vegas, no matter who or what is showing on the screen. Sphere has caused some pain at other entertainment venues, but that’s how things work in this town. Only the strong survive. There’s no clicking-of-heels to return to a time pre-Sphere, so everyone else needs to up their game.