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The Much-Hyped New em Wizard of Oz /em Is an Atrocity

Slate

Although it is, at least according to the Library of Congress, the most-watched movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz was a costly failure at the box office, and only became a perennial favorite thanks to the regular TV airings that began in the 1950s. But in the decades since it's become a metonym for the wonder of the big screen, a movie even people who prefer their content streaming will make the effort to see in a movie theater. Beginning on Labor Day weekend, audiences will get to experience the movie on perhaps the largest screen ever created. But it won't be The Wizard of Oz as we've come to know it for the better part of a century. The version of the movie that will fill Las Vegas' Sphere starting Aug. 28 has been retooled to fit the venue's curved shell, its images enhanced and expanded to fill four football fields' worth of 16K LED screens--the foundation of an immersive presentation that also includes flames, gusts of wind, and inflatable flying monkeys piloted by drone. It is, to quote the title of a CBS news report, "The Wizard of Oz as you've never seen it before."


'Of course it's disturbing': will AI change Hollywood forever?

#artificialintelligence

What will AI (artificial intelligence) do to Hollywood? Who better to answer that question than ChatGPT, a thrilling but scary chatbot developed by OpenAI. When the Guardian asked it about AI's potential impact on the film industry, it made the following points: Scriptwriting: AI can be used to analyze existing screenplays and create new ones, potentially leading to more efficient and cost-effective screenwriting. Pre-production: AI can be used to streamline the pre-production process, including casting, location scouting and storyboarding. Special effects: AI can be used to create more realistic and immersive special effects, potentially reducing the need for practical effects and saving time and money in post-production.