Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ Remake Was One of the Top-Grossing Movies of 2025—For One Big Reason
One movie, from one place, has emerged as the 10 highest-grossing films of 2025. That sounds impossible until you realize that a certain venue is charging about 10 times what other theaters are charging for that movie and has more seats.
1939 film The author of Oz, and the location is Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. A new report says that the film’s highly controversial re-release in an expanded, focused location will make $260 million by 2025, and it will do so in just four months, since it opened in late August. That puts it at number 10 on the list of the highest grossing domestic films of 2025.
Of course, movies are the same How to Train Your Dragon (number nine at $262 million) or Fantastic Four: First Steps (number eight on $274 million) charges around $15 depending on where and when you see it, while tickets for The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere usually starts around $100, and the venue is much larger than most movie theaters, seating more than 18,000. So it’s not exactly a fair comparison, but it’s still kind of interesting.
On the grosses news, and the new Sphere opening near Washington DC, Sphere CEO James Dolan revealed that Oz 2.0 will be coming later this year, with all new effects, and that there are no plans for the film to stop playing anytime soon. “What a life The Wizard of Oz? It wouldn’t surprise me if we showed up The Wizard of Oz 10 years from now,” said Dolan.
Where the first pictures and video of this new version of The Wizard of Oz were released, the internet backlash was swift and merciless. Many complained about how the new effects and remakes completely changed the look of the original film. And then when it was revealed that AI was used to help augment some of the visuals of the experience, it got even worse. Still, it seems that enthusiasm has done nothing to dial down interest from Las Vegas tourists.
I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, and the crowds in and around the Sphere for The Wizard of Oz they were surprisingly large. I even saw fans attending shows dressed as characters from the movie. Also, you can’t get discounted seats like other Las Vegas shows. It’s still popular and making money. A lot of money. Real Hollywood blockbuster money. And, if it continues at this rate, it will join the likes of A photo as well as They don’t take revenge in billion clubs and then some.
As for which films will make the jump to the Sphere, nothing is official. Rumors abound about mega franchises like star Wars or Harry Potter, but none of that is legal. Dolan produced a film called From the Edge it was in the works, done by the team behind It’s free and “reports extreme sports athletes.” However, although that film will be made later this year, there are no plans to stop showing it The Wizard of Oz anytime soon. “We plan to run The Wizard of Oz until we see demand start to slow,” Dolan said. “That could be more than a year.”
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