"Audiences no longer just see the tornado that ripped Dorothy Gale from Kansas to Munchkinland. Now they can experience it thanks to powerful fans creating hurricane-force winds that tousle the audience's hair and lead some to cover their faces, while the room is covered in confetti like debris inside the eye of the storm. The Las Vegas Sphere, the enormous entertainment venue opened two years ago in the American casino city, has injected new life into the influential 1939 classic with the promise of turning what was once a Technicolor trip to another world into a sensory experience."
"To look to the future, Hollywood is turning to the past. Judy Garland, who died 56 years ago, is no longer the big star of this new era. The actress shares the spotlight with artificial intelligence, a tool that dared to imagine what was off-screen in Victor Fleming's Oscar-winning film. The premiere of the new version last Thursday will fuel the existential debate about the future of cinema in the age of AI, a topic that sparked a 148-day strike in Hollywood in 2023."
"The company invested $100 million, more than double the initial budget, in making this version, shattering the original's $2.8 million ($76 million at today's exchange rate). We're breaking a lot of ground with this. We truly believe we're opening a new chapter in the way stories are told. AI will change the film industry. And I think what we've done is push it to its limits, Jim Dolan, CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment and owner of the Sphere, told EL PAIS in Las Vegas."
The Las Vegas Sphere transforms The Wizard of Oz into an immersive sensory event using powerful fans and confetti to replicate tornado effects and hurricane-force winds. Artificial intelligence contributed new material imagining off-screen moments and shares the spotlight with Judy Garland. The premiere reignited debates about AI's role in filmmaking and referenced the 2023 Hollywood strike over the technology. Madison Square Garden Entertainment invested $100 million, more than double the initial budget, to produce the version. The 1939 original premiered on a seven-meter screen with revolutionary Technicolor, a historical technological leap contrasted with today's immersive, AI-driven approaches.
Read at english.elpais.com
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