TicketNews: Sphere Entertainment Co. has announced plans to develop a new Sphere venue at National Harbor in Maryland, marking what would become the second U.S. location for the immersive entertainment concept and the first to utilize a smaller-scale design model. The announcement was made in partnership with the State of Maryland, Prince George’s County, and Peterson Companies, according to a joint press release issued Sunday.
6 comments:
This article is extremely interesting! I have commented on a few previous articles about The Sphere, and I think that it is a very unique entity. I love immersive entertainment experiences, so visiting the sphere is definitely on my bucket list! The way that the video and audio elements come together in this venue sounds really special. However, I do wonder if creating more spheres is the right move. I feel like it would be more effective to have the Las Vegas sphere as THE destination, rather than popping up spheres across the world. Especially since they have not made a profit from the Vegas sphere yet. I just feel like this technology would not be seen as unique if it is more widespread. Another question that arises is what happens when this technology becomes outdated? I'm guessing that their ticket sales would start to taper off, and they would have to update their systems to continue drawing in large crowds.
This is cool. When I think of “News from the ‘Real World’” this is the kind of thing I envision. I don’t think the sphere is a passing fad, and I think, as an entertainment medium, it will only continue to grow and improve on itself. Of course there’s a few things to be concerned about with the spread of the sphere, especially in how they deal with and use AI in the work that goes up on their screens. My rebuttal to this would be that adapting using AI as a tool to convert 2d video to a sphere’s 3d (4d?) interior screens is, in my opinion, exactly what AI is meant to do in the entertainment industry. Regardless, I think the Las Vegas Sphere’s success cannot be understated, as they host everything from rock concerts to movie experiences. I look forward to seeing how this area of the industry continues to evolve in years to come.
It’s been really cool to watch the Sphere evolve over the past couple of years. I really am not surprised that the developers are working on concepts for a second venue with a similar profile. The sphere has unlocked a lot of new possibilities for entertainment design, particularly with its signature spherical wraparound screen. The videos coming out of Las Vegas don’t do it justice I imagine, as even in their compressed version the entire experience looks incredible. I’m hoping to head out to Vegas sometime in the next few years to see it. It really does seem like a technical marvel. I do wonder why they are scaling down the venue for the National Harbor, though that could just be a cost saving measure due to current economic conditions. I also wonder what different programming this eastern Sphere will offer, given that Maryland has a very different customer base than Las Vegas.
I have read quite a few articles about the Spere in Las Vegas at this point, and I had previously thought to myself if they would think about making another venue like that in a different location. This article answers that exact question, and I hope the project will be successful. More than that though I hope that the project can be more cost effective than the sphere in las Vegas. The major problem with the sphere in Las Vegas is the cost. Both the cost to build the original sphere, and the cost to run it are ridiculously high. Which lead to the cost to seeing said shows being higher than most people can afford. I understand that this is new type of venue and the technology involved is groundbreaking in many ways, but I would hope that this new venue being a smaller size would lead to more people being able to go. The ticket prices at the Sphere in Vegas are two high as times, and this new sphere being a smaller size shows me that they have noticed this fact. I just hope that them making this sphere to lead to lower ticket prices instead of just going for more money in a different location.
I unfortunately have never had the opportunity to experience the sphere in Las Vegas. Yet I have still followed it on Instagram andI was deeply sad that I wasn't able to attend the 3-D Wizard of Oz screening that they had, where they dropped apples from the sky, and they had a bunch of 3-D elements, and captured as you watched in the sphere. I have always wanted to go to the sphere and see what it was all about, but I have also heard some not-so-good things about it and people saying it's not worth the experience or it wasn't worth the price, etc… I do wonder if ticket sales would be matched in Washington DC as Las Vegas is much more of a showmanship city and I feel more people interested in the arts go to Las Vegas then they do to Washington DCSo I'm curious if this plan does go through what the ticket sales comparison will be and if it will even be successful.
I don’t remember why I started beef with the sphere… maybe it was the AI Wizard of Oz but I really don’t understand the love of the sphere… still has an off vibe. I have learned a bit about the sphere acoustics which is awesome, I just don’t see the appeal otherwise. I hope that development of sphere shaped venues doesn’t promote that same kind of performance- which I fear it might. This kind of venue makes a ton of its profit off of pre recorded media, which isn’t inherently bad, I just really wish this were promoting live entertainment a little more intensely. They do have performers coming through pretty regularly this year, but about every other performance is another Wizard of Oz. This makes me curious too about load in/out for live shows, since they have so much stacked on top of each other. In regards to the duplicate spheres, I just really hope it doesn’t make the local entertainment economy too skewed. I’ve heard a bit about another LiveNation venue potentially popping up in Portland and I know the local arts community are still fighting to keep it out.
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