The Wizard of AI

What the Sphere, Will Smith, and "House of David" Have in Common

Author

Steve
September 02, 2025

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The Wizard of AI

There’s been a few Hollywood-related AI stories out there in the ether, so I figured I’d bring them together and I promise I won’t do (too much) ranting and raving.

The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere

First up is the opening of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere. I’ve written about some of the cool stuff at the Sphere before. This one is a little more controversial, as it is an “AI-enhanced” (and cut-down) version of the classic film that fits the Sphere’s massive screen, as seen below.

The USA Today article about it is predictably effusive, writing “More than 2,000 filmmakers, technicians, audio experts and AI creatives spent two years reilluminating Dorothy Gale’s adventure into a gleaming spectacle that will move you – literally and emotionally.”

Variety is much less positive: “It’s hard not to be blown away — quite literally, at times — by the augmented reality aspects of this first-of-its-kind show, which include drone-powered flying monkeys and an indoor tornado. But the visual cheats used to overhaul what director Victor Fleming and his cast put to film all those years ago (including extensive use of eyesore AI) are another matter.”

Not having seen it, I can only give my sideline take, which is that these large scale immersive experiences like Sphere, IMAX, 4DX etc. continue to present an exciting opportunity for getting butts in seats when done well. Side note: I’d love to see a long piece exploring the unspoken damage the 3D craze of the late 2000s-2010s did to audience trust of the theatrical experience, I think the generally poor quality of 3D visuals and the added fees resulted in some of the box office attrition we see to this day.

That said, I wish filmmakers and creatives were finding new and exciting ways to use these formats to land the aforementioned butts, instead of just relying on “updating” stuff with questionable AI additions.

Wired Actually Provides Some Details!

Speaking of questionable AI additions, longtime readers are familiar with my informal series “Any Details???”, wherein I find an article about generative AI’s supposed use in Hollywood to see if there are any actual use cases or if it’s just vague wishcasting and promises. Guess how often it’s the latter?

Kudos to Wired, then, for having some actual details in their piece “AI Isn’t Coming for Hollywood. It’s Already Arrived.”

Now, the headline is a bit more clickbait-y than the article itself, which includes this:

Even those who are bullish on AI admit that, for the most part, the technology isn’t ready for the big screen. Text-to-image generators might work for marketing agencies, but they often lack the quality required for a feature film. “I worked on one film for Netflix and tried to use a single shot,” says a filmmaker who asked to remain anonymous, not wanting to discuss their use of AI publicly. The AI-generated footage got “bounced back” from quality control because it wasn’t 4K resolution, the filmmaker says.

Wow, an actual description of where the technology is currently! No wishcasting, no inclusion of vague promises of what it will be able to do at some indeterminate point. This is all I ask for!

That’s not to say the article is perfect. It also has moments like these:

“We film everything we can for real—it still takes hundreds of people,” Erwin tells me. “But we’re able to do it at about a third of the budget of some of these bigger shows in our same genre, and we’re able to do it twice as fast.” A burning-forest scene in House of David would have been too expensive to do with practical effects, he says, so AI created what audiences saw.

What does this mean, “AI created what audiences saw”? The entire shot? The fire itself? Something else? Can we get a clip or a screenshot? Same for this:

The taboo on studios acknowledging their embrace of AI seems to be softening. In July, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors the company had allowed “gen AI final footage” to appear in one of its original series for the first time. He said the decision sped up production tenfold and dramatically cut costs. “We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,” he said.

OK again: what is being discussed here? An actual shot in the show? A computer monitor in the background? Set decorations? These details matter! Please ask for them!

Big Willy Style

Almost any time you see someone holding up a sign in the video, it’s an AI-generated shot. Hard to pick an absolute favorite but this one below might be it!

I love it all, from the mangled Raiders logo to the person wearing an AI-generated Will Smith face shirt to the sign being held by a child which references having a son??? I also like the sinister-sounding “changed my son’s life” instead of the more obvious “saved my son’s life.” If Will Smith abducted your son for ransom, that would also change his life!

It’s an obvious joke but Will Smith should probably slap whoever is responsible for this monstrosity, up to and including himself! It looked like he had an audience there so plugging in an AI-generated one seems like the type of thing to make it look like you have an audience problem even when you don’t. Unless you do?

Here’s a round-up of cool and interesting links about Hollywood and technology:

F1’s visual effects included “reskinning” its race cars. (link)

This horror movie got a wider release just from online trailer views. (link)

One of the hardest eras to recreate for film and TV? The 1970s. (link)