While there has – publicly, anyway – been nothing agreed between executive chairman and chief executive officer of Sphere Entertainment Co. James Dolan and Disney, there’s at the very least the possibility that Star Wars could, sometime in the future, be arriving at the iconic Vegas location. Dolan states that conversations have been had, and while Disney reportedly want more involvement in the creaton of the process to make their films suitable for screening in the $2.3bn Sphere, there is now a chance that the GFFA could be heading to Vegas in much the same way as the blockbuster arrival of The Wizard of Oz could scoop up a billion dollars over its run, incredible numbers for an 86-year-old musical.
Dolan is in the market for more film titles, many of them more contemporary. From the Edge, a documentary featuring five athletes doing extreme stunts, will debut next year. Dolan has also spoken to Warner Bros. about additional titles, including Harry Potter, and he’s spoken to Walt Disney Co. about a few titles, including Star Wars.
The venue itself, an already iconic sight on the Las Vegas skyline, has an incredible story all of its own.
The first blockbuster movie of the fall is an 86-year-old musical that was a failure when first released in 1939.
The Wizard of Oz is drawing 4,000 to 5,000 fans to the Sphere in Las Vegas two or three times a day. Fans are paying an average of almost $200 apiece, according to Wolfe Research.
That means the movie is generating ticket sales of as much as $2 million a day from just the one location. Executives at the Sphere estimate the film will gross hundreds of millions of dollars over the next year and could top $1 billion before concluding its run, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The film exhibited at the Sphere isn’t your regular Wizard of Oz. Dolan cut about half an hour so that his version runs 70 minutes. The film is as much a theme park ride as a movie, according to critic Amy Nicholson.
“When the tornado happens, the tech changes hit us like a cyclone,” Nicholson wrote in the Los Angeles Times. “A great, giddy blast of air from the 750-horsepower fans blew my bangs straight off my forehead.”
The Sphere will generate about $200 million in sales from concerts this year, according to Supino, while movies will gross closer to $400 million. And they are a lot more profitable. The analyst estimates films at the Sphere have a gross margin of 70%.
