Sixteen cinemas across eleven countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have now been fitted with Dolby® Atmos™, Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB) announced today.
As an advanced cinema audio platform, Dolby Atmos reinvents cinema sound by giving each speaker its own unique feed, enabling many new front, surround and ceiling-mounted height channels for the precise panning of select sounds. The result is a fully immersive experience, putting the audience right at the centre of the action.
Hollywood studios including Disney/Pixar (Brave), DreamWorks Animation (Rise of the Guardians), Twentieth Century Fox (Taken 2, Chasing Mavericks,Life of Pi), and Warner Bros. (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) have adopted the Dolby Atmos format, increasing the count of 2012 Dolby Atmos titles to six.
In 2013, three titles, including Gravity and Pacific Rim from Warner Bros. and Star Trek into Darkness from Paramount Pictures are already scheduled to receive the Dolby Atmos treatment, with additional studio titles to follow.
International movie productions are currently in the works or will be started in 2013 by movie studios in China, France, Germany, India, Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Acclaimed Singapore director Jack Neo’s upcoming movie Ah Boys to Men premiered in Dolby Atmos on November 6, 2012.
The growing list of Dolby Atmos equipped cinemas in the EMEA region joins a select list of theatres globally, including the iconic Hollywood landmark venue the Dolby Theatre™, and will lead the way in screening content mixed in Dolby Atmos. EMEA cinemas offering Dolby Atmos now include:
- Cineplexx Donau Plex – Vienna, Austria
- Kino Arena Bulgaria Mall – Sofia, Bulgaria
- Premiere Cinemas, Park Hostivař – Prague, Czech Republic
- Bio Naestved – Naestved, Denmark
- Mégarama Pian Medoc – Bordeaux, France
- Pathé Wepler – Paris, France
- Cinecittà – Nuremburg, Germany
- Traumpalast Backnang – Stuttgart, Germany
- JT Luxor Theater Hoogeveen – Hoogeveen, Netherlands
- JT Theatres Vlaardingen – Rotterdam, Netherlands
- SF Kino Kristiansand – Kristiansand, Norway
- SF Kino Sandvika – Oslo, Norway
- Ster Kinekor, Gateway – Durban, South Africa
- Cinesa Diagonal Mar – Barcelona, Spain
- Ocine – Valladolid, Spain
- Empire Cinemas, Leicester Square – London, UK
More locations will be announced throughout 2013.
“The interest we’re seeing in Dolby Atmos in EMEA shows that the industry sees real value in offering immersive cinema audio. With more cinemas becoming equipped across the wider region, cinema audiences are set to experience first-hand the entertainment experience envisioned by both internationally-renowned and home-grown talent,” said Andreas Spechtler, EMEA Regional Vice President, Dolby Europe. “The diversity of titles on offer also shows us that the creative community is already unlocking the versatility of the Dolby Atmos platform and we can’t wait to see how directors and their sound teams make upcoming titles more thrilling, emotive and heartfelt in 2013.”
Dolby Atmos introduces a hybrid approach to mixing that enables sound designers and re-recording mixers to direct sounds as dynamic objects that envelop the listener in a lifelike sound field. The system utilises adaptive rendering techniques to maintain precise artistic integrity to the film-maker’s original vision across a wide range of cinema shapes, sizes and loudspeaker configurations. It is an end-to-end solution that takes into account the entire content pipeline and brings together mixers, studios, distributors, and exhibitors to create dramatic improvements in the audio experience.