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LAS VEGAS — Beneath a ceiling filled with digital stars, Danielle Renee stood transfixed inside the Las Vegas Sphere as the Backstreet Boys appeared to propel fans into space.

"Oh my gosh, it was incredible," she says. "I don't know how another show could beat it."

Renee, a mortgage loan officer from Washington state and a longtime fan of the group, attended a performance in early February and described being equally impressed by the music and the visuals projected across the venue’s massive concave screen, which spans 15,000 square meters. From a simulated night sky to a virtual spaceship, the imagery was entirely computer-generated.

Having seen the Backstreet Boys perform previously, Renee says "nothing compares" to the Sphere experience. "Everyone was dancing, everyone was singing along."

Immersive venues built around domed or spherical screens are drawing increasing attention. Competitor Cosm is expanding with dome-like locations across several U.S. cities, offering audiences enhanced screenings of live sports and films such as The Matrix, where visual effects extend beyond the traditional frame.

Supporters argue that such venues represent the next evolution in entertainment, promising deeper immersion and heightened sensory engagement.

Skeptics, however, note that similar claims were once made about technologies like 3D cinema, which has repeatedly struggled to sustain widespread popularity. Whether large-scale domed environments can succeed where others have faltered remains an open question.

The Las Vegas Sphere, built at a cost of $2.3 billion (£1.72 billion), has hosted a range of programming since opening in September 2023. Events have included a visually enhanced version of The Wizard of Oz and a concert residency by U2. Ticket prices typically start at $100 and can climb significantly higher.

Before its debut, analysts questioned whether the venue could become financially viable, debating whether it was an ambitious innovation or an expensive misstep.

Concerns persisted into early 2025, when several observers pointed to ongoing profitability challenges, and one critic said they were left "confused and slightly dismayed" after attending.

More recently, however, the financial outlook has improved. Sphere Entertainment reported net income of $57.6 million for the 2025 calendar year. The company declined to comment.

"For me, watching a movie is enough of an experience," says creativity and innovation researcher Manel González-Piñero at the University of Barcelona, who viewed The Wizard of Oz at the venue. "I don't need to complement the experience with something new."

Still, González-Piñero described the Sphere as a functioning "prototype" that successfully delivers content in a novel format.

Sphere Entertainment has also unveiled plans to develop smaller versions of the venue, each with a capacity of about 5,000 seats, for additional markets. González-Piñero questioned whether such concepts would translate well to cities like Milan or Amsterdam, suggesting the Sphere may be better suited as a unique attraction tied to Las Vegas.

Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said his visit left him "jaw-dropping," though he expressed disappointment over resistance to a proposed counterpart in East London.

Plans for that project were abandoned in 2024 after London Mayor Sadiq Khan denied planning approval.

According to Wood, large-scale curved screens can create an experience akin to augmented or virtual reality. "It's an amazing, futuristic metaphor for the way people consume content," he says.

At the same time, he acknowledged that the scale and intensity of such displays may not appeal to everyone. From his hotel room, Wood could see the Sphere’s expansive exterior screen, which cycles through animations, including a giant eye. "This thing's winking at you," says Wood.

A different approach is being pursued by Cosm, which formed following a merger involving Evans & Sutherland, a firm known for projection systems used in planetariums and science centers.

Cosm now focuses on LED-based displays and software designed to enhance live sports broadcasts and cinematic presentations.

"We are very much a software company," says chief product and technology officer Devin Poolman. Still, he noted that the company’s LED systems are specifically engineered to accommodate curved, dome-like structures.

Cosm operates venues in Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta, with additional sites planned in Cleveland and Detroit.

Poolman said the company ultimately aims to establish more than 100 locations worldwide, though he declined to comment on current profitability. "We feel very confident in the strength of our business."

The concept of dome-based entertainment is not new. Dome cinemas were introduced in the United States by Cinerama in the 1960s, followed later by Imax.

James Lanier, founder and president of Absolute Hollywood, has spent decades developing inflatable dome installations for events and exhibitions. Unlike fixed venues such as the Sphere, these structures often allow audiences to move freely or recline while viewing content overhead.

Lanier recalled a project tied to a royal wedding in the Middle East, where performances recorded in nearby tents were projected into a central dome. "It was a very surreal experience," says Lanier.

While such immersive formats may not appeal universally, they continue to attract enthusiastic audiences. Renee, for one, is already planning a return visit to the Sphere for another Backstreet Boys performance.

"I actually just got an email this morning [about] their final shows of the summer," she says. "I was looking to see how I could get there again."