'Groundbreaking': Las Vegas Sphere sells 120,000 tickets for 'Wizard of Oz' screenings

CNBC

a day ago

There's no place like the Las Vegas Sphere.
More than 120,000 tickets have been sold for showings of a special rendering of "The Wizard of Oz" starting later this month, according to James Dolan, CEO of parent company Sphere Entertainment. The company expects ticket sales to reach 200,000 by the time of the first screening.
"We're very proud of the product and we think it's groundbreaking," Dolan said on the parent company's earnings call Monday. "We think that it's going to draw a lot of attention and that people who come to Vegas are going to want to go."
Dolan said the showings can help drive the rate of Las Vegas visitors who go to the Sphere above 10% — an increase from around 7% currently.
Sphere Entertainment worked with engineers on using artificial intelligence-powered "outpainting" to expand the film's original frames to fit the Las Vegas venue, which opened in Sept. 2023. The goal, according to the company, is to make viewers feel like they were in the studio when the legendary movie — released in 1939 and starring Judy Garland — was made.
While Dolan told analysts he expects strong demand for tickets, which start at over $100, he acknowledged that bringing Oz to the 20,000-person venue was "not an inexpensive project." Sphere describes the viewings as "immersive," involving 167,000 audio speakers, and 4D elements including "haptic seats, environmental effects and custom scents."
In the future, owners of movies may be inclined to work with Sphere Entertainment because it can boost interest in the original intellectual property, Dolan said.
Despite the latest optimism around the Oz screenings, Sphere Entertainment reported second-quarter revenue that came in below expectations of analysts polled by FactSet. However, Sphere posted adjusted operating income that was more than double the amount seen in the same period a year ago.
Some Wall Street analysts are particularly optimistic about the outlook as the Oz screenings begin.
"We believe the Wizard of Oz remains a massive and generally underappreciated catalyst for Sphere," said Wolfe Research's Peter Supino, who added that the second-quarter "shouldn't make or break your investment thesis."
Supino expects the parent company's Sphere Experience revenue to total about $110 million in the fourth quarter, the first full three-month reporting period that will include "Wizard of Oz" screenings and eclipsing the prior high of $101 million in this year's first quarter.
Partly as a result, Supino said the stock can reach $65 over the coming year, or 68% above Monday's close. At one point, shares rallied more than 4.5% Tuesday, reversing a 4% decline on Monday.