Sphere Entertainment has unveiled plans to bring two new immersive experiences to its 516-foot wide spherical venue in Las Vegas. The company has announced an enhanced version of the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" and a new climbing film featuring Alex Honnold, both of which will utilize cutting-edge technology to create unique and engaging experiences for audiences.

The immersive "Wizard of Oz" experience is set to premiere on August 28th, 2025, and will be presented on the Sphere's 160,000 square foot screen. The company is collaborating with Warner Bros. Discovery, Google, and Magnopus, a studio that has previously created immersive experiences for Disney, Sony, and NASA. According to Sphere Entertainment, the enhanced film will "maintain the integrity of the original while pushing the boundaries of Sphere's experiential medium."

While details on the immersive elements of the "Wizard of Oz" experience have not been revealed, the Sphere's venue is capable of recreating environmental elements like heat, wind, and scents, and features a multi-sensory experience through sound and haptics. The screen itself has a resolution of 16,000 pixels by 16,000 pixels, significantly higher than the 4K HDR restoration of the original film released in 2020.

The second immersive experience, titled "From The Edge," is a climbing film featuring Alex Honnold and four other elite athletes: Alenka Artnik, Markus Eder, Kai Lenny, and Katie Hansen Lajeunesse. The film is currently in production, with filming taking place in locations including Jordan, Dubai, Switzerland, the Bahamas, Austin, Las Vegas, and Maui. "From The Edge" is being produced by Academy Award-winning directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, known for their work on "Free Solo."

Both productions are coming from Sphere Studios, the company's Burbank-based production studio that launched nearly two years ago. The studio has developed the Big Sky ultra-high-resolution camera system, which is currently being used to capture footage for "From The Edge."

The announcement of these two new immersive experiences marks a significant milestone for Sphere Entertainment, which is pushing the boundaries of entertainment technology with its unique venue and productions. As the company continues to innovate and experiment with new formats, it will be interesting to see how audiences respond to these immersive experiences and what the future holds for this emerging technology.

In the meantime, fans of "The Wizard of Oz" and extreme sports enthusiasts alike can look forward to these two exciting new experiences coming to the Las Vegas Sphere later this year and in 2026.