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If the visually reimagined The Wizard of Oz has taught us anything, it’s that there’s no place like Sphere to see a film. The 1939 classic raked in over $65 million in its first month at the viral Strip venue. Sphere has set the scene for a new and engaging way to experience cinema. So what’s next? The Weekly staff weighs in on which films we’d like to see at Sphere.
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Having already been shoehorned into adjacent media like video games, comic books and LEGO sets for decades, the laser-torn snowscapes of The Empire Strikes Back’s Battle of Hoth scene seem ripe for Spherification in the Disney-owned Star Wars era. Fans could relive the film's most memorable moment as positive paternity test result souvenirs fall from the ceiling, or indulge in wide shots of the Millennium Falcon interior that include an AI-generated shower clogged with Chewie's fur. While they’d likely have to cut some asteroid and Cloud City scenes in favor of Luke’s X-Wing feat, it might be worth the chance to see legitimate wizardry onscreen at Sphere for the first time. –Tyler Schneider
The Tron franchise (1982-present)
Forget a Sphere; we need The Grid. Regardless of how we feel about the scripts for 1982’s Tron, 2010’s Tron: Legacy and this year’s Tron: Ares, we can probably all agree that all three movies have killer soundtracks, by pioneering A Clockwork Orange composer Wendy Carlos, the late, great Daft Punk and Nine Inch Nails, respectively. We can also agree they’re all visually spectacular, way ahead of their time. And that Jeff Bridges is, incontestably, The Dude. Condense the three films down to 20 minutes of great scenes apiece, remix the music for Sphere’s killer sound system, have Bridges narrate it … and tell James Dolan and Bob Iger to send me my check. Bitcoin works. –Geoff Carter
Jurassic Park (1993)
Darren Aronofsky’s 4D sci-fi documentary Postcard from Earth already proved what Sphere could do with prairie-wide landscapes and up-close encounters with Earth’s gentle and giant wildlife. But Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur epic could easily upstage that with the heart-stopping T-Rex escape scene. Imagine the deafening footfalls as the T-Rex approaches, its ear-rattling roar resounding through Sphere’s 167,000-speaker 3D sound system as Lex and Tim Murphy cower in their Jurassic Jeep before it’s tipped over like a Hot Wheel. That scale of adventure—the stalking pack of velociraptors in the tall grass, or that first, awe-inspiring introduction to the magical Brachiosauruses towering over the trees—belongs at Sphere. –Amber Sampson
The Matrix (1999)
If there’s a film built for the mind-bending, eye-popping digital sorcery of Sphere, it’s The Matrix. Take the red pill and imagine the disorienting vertigo of Neo’s journey as he wakes up to the truth of the Matrix, slow-motion bullet dodges, mind-blowing fight scenes, and that iconic, green-tinted world where nothing is what it seems. Sphere’s tech could push these surreal visuals even further, making the line between multi-sensory illusion and brutal reality blur right in front of our eyes. –Gabriela Rodriguez
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Fellowship of the Ring is the ideal high-fantasy film for a Sphere adaptation. Picture sunlit hills of The Shire, where lush greenery rolls as far as the eye can see, followed by the oppressive, tangled darkness of Mirkwood Forest. Frodo’s quiet, almost reluctant heroism, carrying the weight of the One Ring, feels even more poignant when set against the looming, jagged peaks of Mordor. And when you come face-to-face with snarling Orcs or the beauty of Rivendell, Sphere’s enveloping screen would make you feel as though you’re standing right there, drenched in the weight of every step. –GR
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