‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Sets 2027 Run At Sphere As ‘Wizard Of Oz’ Passes $400M In Sales

A new version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is heading to Sphere in Las Vegas in 2027.

Sphere Entertainment announced the booking Tuesday at the same time it revealed that its version of The Wizard of Oz, which premiered last August, has now sold more than 3 million tickets, raking in $400 million.

Jim Dolan, Executive Chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment, said the project is part of Sphere Studios’ development of “original experiences” purpose-built for the massive site. The titles “push the boundaries of technology and storytelling for this new medium, while always keeping the audience at the center of the experience. Since The Rocky Horror Picture Show premiered in 1975, it redefined audience participation and became a cultural phenomenon. With Sphere, we have the opportunity to take that spirit of immersion to an entirely new level.” 

It wasn’t immediately clear from the company’s brief statement about the project how different the 2027 Rocky Horror will be from the midnight-screening staple that has screened worldwide for decades. In the case of Oz, a team of producers and AI specialists produced an entirely new version of the 1939 classic, using the unique dimensions of Sphere. Audiences and technophiles have been wowed, but film purists howled over the trimming of more than 25 minutes of runtime, including some musical numbers.

The pipeline for higher-priced, lavishly produced fare playing in bespoke venues has been starting to fill as IP holders and venue operators look to tap into surging demand for in-person experiences. Along with Sphere, which has delivered strong concert ticket sales for musical acts like the Backstreet Boys and Phish, Imax has been breaking records and attracting corporate acquisition interest. Formats like 4DX and ScreenX are surging, and recently introduced “shared reality” concept Cosm has joined forces with Warner Bros for a string of well-attended presentations of library titles like The Matrix and the first Harry Potter film.

MORE to come …