Google partners with The Sphere, a domed building in Las Vegas, to showcase the classic 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, on its exterior screen in August 2025.
The intriguing aspect of this venture lies in The Wizard of Oz, shot on 35mm film in a 4:3 aspect ratio back in 1939. The original film is quite aged, and projecting it on the massive 160,000-foot screen of The Sphere required substantial enhancements. This included increasing the image resolution and modifying the traditional filming and editing techniques, which involved swapping between cameras during certain character close-ups while maintaining the overall scene composition.
This ambitious project enlisted Google’s team of researchers from Google DeepMind and Google Cloud, who leveraged advanced AI technologies such as Veo, Imagen, and Gemini to refine the original film, enhancing its image quality significantly. By utilizing AI to zoom out the original frames, they achieved a full view of each scene, a feat unattainable through conventional CGI methods.
Google emphasized the value of retaining the original film elements for teaching AI, as fine-tuning from the source material yielded better results than using the actual 102-minute theatrical release. The AI-enhanced visuals showcased a remarkable improvement in quality.
TLDR: Google collaborates with The Sphere in Las Vegas to employ AI technologies and revitalize the classic film The Wizard of Oz, projecting it on a massive screen in August 2025.
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