The Wizard of Oz
Warner Bros.
An AI-altered version of The Wizard of Oz created for the Las Vegas Sphere has ignited backlash online, with film fans describing the changes as “vandalism.”
As generative AI slowly creeps its way into the film industry, one tendril at a time, the alteration of an iconic film struck many commentators as incredibly invasive.
What Is The AI-Enhanced Version Of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’?
In April, Warner Bros. announced that an altered version of The Wizard of Oz (1939) would play inside the Las Vegas Sphere, with the help of Google’s engineers—alterations to the film are estimated to have cost $80 million dollars.
The Las Vegas Sphere is something of an absurd object, even for Vegas, a gargantuan metal dome wrapped in LED screens.
Surreal images of the Sphere regularly go viral on social media (the Sphere’s transformation into a giant emoji is particularly popular).
The interior of the Sphere offers an unusually immersive experience for viewers, featuring a curved 160,000-square-foot screen, towering over a 17,600-seat theater.
Usually, the Sphere is limited to showing films shot specifically for its giant screen, but in order to bring The Wizard of Oz to the Sphere, AI was used to expand and alter the original film.
Google’s engineers worked on expanding the aspect ratio, smoothing out the film grain and even adding new background details.
Rather than multiplying the existing pixels on screen, Google’s generative AI tools created new pixels to increase the definition and scale of the film.
While the AI-altered version of the film exists only to be screened in the Las Vegas Sphere, the sight of the artificially expanded land of Oz made commentators uneasy.
AI-Altered ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ Sparks Backlash
Shots from the AI-enhanced Wizard of Oz were shared on social media, and baffled many film fans, as intentionally blurry backgrounds had been sharpened, and an AI-generated doppelganger of Uncle Henry had been generated to fill empty space beyond the frame.
On X, one commentator offered sarcastic praise, writing: “I think this is a wonderful idea. Like everyone, I’d been wondering my entire life what Uncle Henry was doing over by the window while Aunt Em argued with Miss Gulch, and finally we know. He was standing there.”
Film critics didn’t hold back, with many expressing deep disappointment that the original, carefully considered shots of The Wizard of Oz had been altered.
While most of the altered shots have the shimmery, glossy sheen of generative AI, the biggest casualty might be the film’s glorious hand-painted backdrops, which add to the otherworldly atmosphere of The Wizard of Oz.
One of the hand-painted backdrops of The Wizard of Oz, featuring the Emerald City
Warner Bros.
The Sphere’s AI-expansion has changed these backdrops into sprawling, photo-realistic landscapes, making the magical Land of Oz look like just another place—Dorothy might as well have stayed in Kansas.
The controversy parallels a widely mocked trend that briefly arose during the early days of generative AI, in which iconic works of art were “improved” or enlarged using the technology.
This led to strange sights, like the AI-generated expansion of the Mona Lisa, creating a bizarre alien landscape.
While the Sphere’s version of The Wizard of Oz is far from the first time that a classic film has been tinkered with, the fact that AI was used to not only alter existing shots, but generate new imagery beyond the frame, sparked serious concerns.
The word “vandalism” appears in many of the critical comments—The Wizard of Oz is viewed as one of cinema’s most sacred objects, and film fans do not like to see it being tampered with.
Another classic film, Jurassic Park, contains a quote which has proved prescient in the age of generative AI:
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”