Last month, Sphere Entertainment released a reimagined, AI-fueled version of The Wizard of Oz. Fans have flocked to see the latest take on the 1939 film classic at The Sphere in Las Vegas, paving a yellow brick road for James Dolan and other Sphere shareholders.
Sphere Entertainment stock is up 50% over the last month and 155% from its lows in April, when leisure stocks were dragged down by an escalating trade war that created economic uncertainty, and Sphere faced potential bankruptcy for its MSG Networks segment; Sphere reached an agreement with MSGN creditors in April.
Concerts have generated most of the headlines for the Sphere since the $2.3 billion venue opened in September 2023. U2 played 40 shows as the first to have a residency. Dead & Company and The Eagles had extended residences, while Phish, Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band played multiple concerts. Millennials rushed to the Sphere decked out in all white to see the Backstreet Boys, whose initial residency of 21 performances was extended, adding 14 shows set to play in December 2025, January 2026 and February 2026.
Concerts and flashy advertising on the 580,000 square foot “Exosphere” are buzzy, but the bulk of the business is driven by the Sphere Experience, with The Wizard of Oz the latest show to debut.
The Sphere Experience generated an estimated $333 million in revenue last year, according to J.P. Morgan. It was nearly double the $188 million from concerts and other events. Advertising and sponsorship revenue was $95 million last year.
Sphere announced that it has already sold 500,000 tickets to The Wizard of Oz since they went on sale in June and has generated $65 million in ticket sales as of Friday. The total included 280,000 tickets sold in the 15 days since the show premiered Aug. 28.
The Wizard of Oz replaced Postcard from Earth, which had been the primary Sphere Experience since the venue opened. The new version cuts roughly 30 minutes from the original, and the 4D immersive elements utilize 750-horsepower fans for the wind effects.
Dolan and Sphere licensed the rights to the movie from Warner Bros. Discovery and its CEO, David Zaslav; Dolan and Zaslav have ”two-second” cameos in the movie. Sphere spent nearly $100 million to adapt the original.
The next Sphere Experience, From the Edge, is from the producers of Free Solo and will debut sometime in 2026, but don’t expect Wizard of Oz to go away. “Ultimately, we’ll run The Wizard of Oz forever,” Dolan said last month on Sphere’s earnings call. “It’s hard for me to imagine a better product than Wizard of Oz.”
J.P. Morgan projects Sphere Experience revenue to hit $356 million this year and $416 million in 2026. “Looking at the longer-term implications, we think the success in reviving a classic film like Wizard of Oz opens up a potential new entertainment category for the venue and future locations (international or small scale), with numerous IPs to build on,” the firm wrote in its latest Sphere research note.
Dolan’s vision for the Sphere was always to use the company’s IP for multiple venues around the globe. London was the original target for the second Sphere location, but those plans were scuttled in late 2023. Last year, the company said it would open a second Sphere in the United Arab Emirates in conjunction with the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi. DCT Abu Dhabi will fund construction and pay Sphere a franchise initiation fee and annual fees for “creative and artistic content.”
The Sphere stock run-up didn’t stop management from repurchasing shares this month, as it just announced $22.5 million worth of stock buys at an average price of $52.91. On Wednesday, the stock closed at $62.02.
