I saw catching fire in Atmos this weekend. It was ok, with a few instances of 'wow' including the scene where the 'clock' rotates, but overall I was left wanting more. It was better than that surf movie tho!
The TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, reportedly the largest IMAX screen in the US, is capable of playing not only IMAX, but DCP's in Dolby Atmos as well (although that is mostly for special screenings, such as world premieres). IMAX films, though, won't be utilizing Atmos.Robert Crawford said:I'm wondering the same thing as they're building a new theater complex in my town this spring with the following screen for one particular theater. Will they be able to play IMAX films on it? Anyway, at least we're getting Dolby Atmos.
Which is exactly the point I was trying to make when speaking to Regal (both their customer support hotline and the theater manager). It was like speaking to Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap: But the IMAX sound system goes to 11!Bobby Henderson said:The point with all this is IMAX has fallen way behind in terms of sound. I dislike 2K digital projection blown up on anything larger than a medium sized movie screen. The image just gets too blurry -or pixel jaggy if the projector has great lenses that are focused properly. As much as IMAX needs that new 4K laser-based digital projection system, they need an even better sound system just as badly. I don't like the 5.1 sound systems IMAX is currently using, which typically feature only two surround speakers stuffed up into the rear corners of the room. That's just lousy for surround imaging. That approach might work fine in a small living room, but it's terribly inadequate for a large commercial movie theater auditorium.
What IMAX really needs to do is sign a deal with Dolby and incorporate Atmos in all of its theaters. With as much as they're charging for tickets they ought to be able to afford Atmos.
I was really looking forward to seeing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in HFR 3D and Dolby Atmos at the Edwards Irvine Spectrum in their RPX auditorium. This is how the director, Peter Jackson, intended audiences to see this film. You can imagine how disappointed I was to learn that Regal booked The Hobbit in 2D with Dolby Atmos in this theatre, and the only way to see this film in HFR 3D was in the IMAX auditorium. The sound system that IMAX currently uses comes nowhere near the precise placement of sound that Dolby Atmos provides. In my opinion, the only difference in the sound quality between an IMAX presentation and a standard 5.1 or 7.1 presentation is the volume level, with IMAX typically at ear-ringing levels.
What surprised me even more was that this appeared to be a booking policy across all Regal locations in North America that had both IMAX and RPX under the same roof, with IMAX getting HFR 3D, and RPX getting 2D. By presenting The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 2D in the RPX auditoriums, Regal is essentially diluting the RPX brand, which promises “Ultimate sight, Ultimate Sound” and guarantees “the best movie experience available.”
What is the address for Dolby's web site?Bobby Henderson said:The movies Ride Along and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit weren't mixed in Dolby Atmos. AFAIK, both had standard 5.1 surround mixes. The sound system hardware in the GDX auditorium was just playing the movies in 5.1. I'm sure it probably sounded a good bit better than most 5.1 equipped theaters due to the more powerful surround speakers, more sub bass enclosures and the sound system likely being set up by Dolby's technicians.
According to Dolby's web site the next movie to be released with an Atmos mix is I: Frankenstein (opening this coming Friday).
Thank you for those links. The new movie complex in my city has three Atmos equipped theaters.Bobby Henderson said:The spread of Atmos would look even more impressive if Dolby would list how many Atmos-equipped screens were in each theater location on its Atmos theaters map. At first glance one would think only one theater in a multiplex would have an Atmos system -kind of like a multiplex having only one IMAX-branded digital theater. There is a growing number of multiplex sites in the US installing Atmos on 2 or more screens. Last May I visited a Santikos theater on the western outskirts of Houston that had 4 Atmos equipped auditoriums.
What? Dolbys competitors want to prevent Dolby from having a monopoly in the supply of "immersive sound" systems to theater chains? How uncouth of them. What is the world coming to when a company's competitors won't allow them to have a monopoly?IMHO, the DCI people ought to just let Dolby do what it wants to do. They, IMAX and others were basically asleep while the whole concept of "immersive sound" was taking shape. Now they're just trying to prevent Dolby from having a virtual monopoly on the process years after the proverbial ship has sailed. They should have been thinking about open standards several years ago. Now they just want to hamstring Dolby. I smell political disruption coming from the likes of IMAX and other Dolby rivals.
Here is some news. At 50 -100,000 dollars/install (your estimate) most theatres are going to be "stuck" with 5.1 or 7.1 (like that is a bad thing?) audio systems for a long time to come. I doubt small market theatres will ever have Dolby Atmos. In fact, thanks to the switch from film prints to digital prints only, a lot of theatres in very small towns are going to end up closing, because the cost of conversion from film projection to Digital projection is cost prohibitive for them.If Dolby hadn't made its move with Atmos most theaters would still be stuck with conventional 5.1 or 7.1 audio.