Back in the day, one of the great things about seeing a popcorn movie was having the shared experience of seeing it with a thousand other people. Personally, I think halving the seat count is insane, but everyone is doing it. And even local theaters in my area have opted for lounge seating, so now we have theaters with only 40 seats and only two ideal ones, which kills my desire to see a film. So the other day, the announcement we heard from AMC was not about installing Dolby Vision on more screens or adding more large-screen theaters or screens with immersive sound, but about new food choices. And if theaters are selling out shows anyway (at least on weekends), they have no incentive to improve the quality of presentation, even though I personally feel that's what they have to do to keep an audience in an age of so many alternatives and especially as the studios are pushing for day-and-date (which I've commented on elsewhere and which will kill off most theaters, IMO). With theatres having fewer and fewer seats due to the installation of lounge seating, it doesn't take much to sell out a show. And the smallest of those theaters had a 52' screen. In NYC, I used to primarily see 70mm films at the Loews Orpheum 1 & 2 (1000/600 seats), the Ziegfeld (1150 seats) or the Loews Astor Plaza (1530 seats). Back in 1982, Variety reported that 20% of the grosses for "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" were earned at 4% of the theaters - those playing the 70mm version. And back in the days of 70mm Dolby 70mm mag 6-track, 70mm theaters generally did far more business than 35mm theaters, although theaters that were 70mm equipped tended to have more seats. Having said that, anyone who chooses to see a film (and frequently paying extra) in 3D, IMAX, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, ETX, RPX, Barco or any other large screen and/or immersive format is definitely choosing a theater based on the presentation format or quality. #1 was choice of film and #2 was theatre location. I saw a survey recently in which patrons were asked their primary reason for choosing a particular theatre and anything related to presentation or technology didn't even appear. You raise a lot of good points, but you also have to separate how contributors of a site like this one feel about seeing movies in a theater and how the general public feels. Wukesong Beijing, Sparkle Roll/Jackie Chan Cinema Tangshan Guoji, Sparkle Roll/Jackie Chan Cinema South Barrington, AMC South Barrington 30 Skokie, AMC Showplace Village Crossing 18 Westminster, AMC Westminster Promenade 24 * The El Capitan has Dolby Vision HDR projection and Atmos sound, but it is not a true Dolby Cinema venue, because it does not have stadium seating and other features. Rancho Cucamonga, AMC Victoria Gardens 12 If there's one near you, I encourage you to check it out! Ticket prices for Dolby Cinema are typically a few bucks more than conventional theaters, but in my opinion, it's well worth the extra cost to see the best projected image available anywhere. Be sure to check with the theater to verify that the Dolby Cinema auditorium is showing a Dolby Vision-graded version of the movie before heading out. For example, some choose not to compete with other nearby venues this seems to be a particular problem in Texas. Also, not all Dolby Cinema locations play Dolby Vision-graded movies during their theatrical run that's up to each exhibitor. Unfortunately, not all movies shown in Dolby Cinemas are graded in HDR for a list of titles that are, click here. If you live near any of the operational locations that is playing a Dolby Vision-graded movie, I strongly recommend that you see it there rather than a conventional theater. Dolby Atmos creates a hemispherical soundfield with speakers all around and overhead, which is much more immersive than conventional surround sound.Īs of this writing, the number of Dolby Cinemas has grown to 65 in the US-all within AMC multiplexes thanks to an exclusive deal with Dolby-with five in Europe and 16 in China, with more slated to come online soon. By contrast, a conventional lamp-based digital cinema has a peak luminance of 14 fL (48 nits) and a black that is more rightly called dark-or even not-so-dark-gray. This system can reproduce true HDR images with essentially perfect blacks and a peak luminance of 31 foot-lamberts (106 nits), and movies graded in Dolby Vision can look better than anything I've ever seen in a commercial cinema or home theater. In its commercial incarnation, Dolby Vision uses two laser-illuminated projectors firing onto the screen. So I maintain a list of these venues so you can see if there's one near you.ĭolby Cinemas combine Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) and Dolby Atmos immersive sound. But no matter how much I write and talk about it, nothing compares with experiencing it for yourself. As I've written and said many times, Dolby Cinema is the finest moviegoing experience available today.
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