For the AI advocates behind a new version of The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere in Las Vegas, the 1939 musical offered a viable way to test of how technology could transform a classic.

The film, which the Library of Congress says is the most-viewed in history, is considered to be part of the Hollywood firmament, a nearly 90-year ode to the enduring power of the medium. That helps explain why some critics and cinephiles already have been registering dismay about the update.

At the same time, it is also a film that most people have never seen on the big screen. A troubled production that was a misfire at the box office in its initial run, it found new life decades later when shown on television.

“It felt like it was ripe for the Sphere,” said producer Jane Rosenthal , a member of th

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