Why I Love Dolby Cinema

By Seth Freilich

Look, it’s obvious that Dolby is sponsoring this Summer Movie Guide, but that doesn’t make what I’m about to say any less true. In fact, I was pumped that Dolby was going to sponsor this precisely because I love Dolby Cinema as much as I do – the Dolby Cinema at the AMC Century City here in Los Angeles is legit my favorite theater in the city (and this being LA, there are obviously a number of great theaters to choose from). Lemme tell you why…

Actually, before I gush, I'll tell you that you don't need to take my word alone for it – check out Brian Tong (formerly of c|net), raving about Dolby Cinema as well - while this is an older video, and the Dolby Cinemas look even better now (Dolby Cinema just launched its 100th location in the US with AMC), I think you'll get the point:

If you think speakers are just speakers, screens are just screens, seeing a movie in the theater is just seeing a movie, you haven’t been to a Dolby Cinema. Dolby describes their Dolby Cinema as offering “the total cinema experience”, an experience that is “designed from the ground up to provide the best sound, picture, and environment for any movie — letting you step into another reality and surrender to the story.” And man, they ain’t lying. As you walk into a Dolby Cinema, it just looks and feels different. From the high-end recliners, to the way you can just see the lighting and sound system laid out, it just feels rad.

But then you sit in your recliner (which is easily the best movie theater recliner I’ve sat in, by a hot mile), the lights go down, and their intro video plays. The video touts their amazing sound, and Dolby Atmos is better than your run-of-the-mill surround sound - with something like 200-plus speakers surrounding you in the theater, Dolby gives you a more immersive sound. You hear things moving all around, and with the bass kicked up, you feel it too.

To be fair, Dolby Atmos immersive sound has been adopted in some other theaters as well, so that’s not the only selling point here. In fact, Dolby Cinema’s real star is the the video. Their projectors are bright and intense. The video that plays in the theater shows you a comparison of “normal” projection side-by-side with Dolby Cinema projection, and it’s like the day when us old-timers first looked at an HDTV and realized that we were barely seeing anything with our old tube standard TVs.

And then there’s the kicker.... The screen goes black, as if the projector is off. After a beat, words come up to tell you that the projector is still on, meaning, it’s projecting that rich, deep, soulless black. ...And you realize that the “black” you’re used to in movie theaters isn’t true black. It’s not absolutely darkness like this. I have yet to see a movie at a Dolby Cinema where at least one person in the audience doesn’t chuckle at this, as they realize they’re in for something amazing.

The amazing images Dolby kicks out are from what they call their Dolby Vision, a laser projection system that offers high dynamic ranges, enhanced color technology, and a bonkers one million-to-one contrast ratio (some basic internet research suggests that we’re talking 400 times better than the average 2,500:1 contrast ratio in a normal theater). Dolby says the result of this is that “the picture comes alive with astonishing brightness and captivating color that more closely matches what the eye can see.” And that’s not just PR-speak because, seriously, Dolby Vision is vivid and crisp and bright like nothing you’ve seen in a theater.

When James Cameron re-released Titanic last year, here’s what he told Vanity Fair about Dolby Cinemas:

Seeing a film that everybody knows, but seeing it in HDR in 3-D with proper light levels on a Dolby Vision laser projector—it’s really a glimpse of the future. . . . We had the whole film remastered in HDR, and it’s stunning. It’s beyond 70 millimeter, it’s beyond any format that you’ve seen before. What we’re trying to do is get Paramount and Fox to support the rollout of the Dolby Vision cinema project. It occurred to me, hey, we’ve got a movie that’s an evergreen that people love, why don’t we slam it into theaters and let people see it, not in a way it should be seen, but a way far beyond what any movie looks like right now, other than some new films are being authored in HDR? Obviously the [new] Avatar films will be [in Dolby Vision] as well, and in fact, we’re also going to do a conversion of Avatar to HDR. We’ll re-release that at some point down the line; I want to try to help this rollout of the Dolby cinemas, because I think it’s fantastic what they’re doing.

So if it’s not only good enough for James Cameron, but what he thinks is the best out there right now, what else do you need to hear? Seriously, treat yourself and check a movie out in a Dolby Cinema near you. You won’t be disappointed.

Return to the Atom Tickets Summer Movie Guide (…yes, sponsored by Dolby Cinema)!