Jordan O'BrienLionsgate is partnering with Dolby to release even more films in both the Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos formats. The partnership is just the latest evidence that Dolby’s head start with Atmos is paying off against competitors such as DTS:X and Auro-3D.
Dolby today celebrated reaching a milestone with commercial cinemas, with the company now finding its way inside over 600 screens across EMEA and 1,800 globally – but its main battleground will be in the homes of consumers. DTS:X and Auro-3D are both positioning their technologies as a way to enhance the home cinema experience and Dolby wants a slice of that pie, offering two technologies that promise exactly that.
Dolby Vision is the company’s proprietary HDR technology, offering brighter images and deeper colours than ever before. In fact, Dolby Vision has been celebrated as the best HDR standard currently on the market by industry experts – thanks to its ability to process more information than the standard HDR 10.
Dolby Atmos meanwhile is the company’s object-based audio system, which has seen support from a raft of speaker and AVR manufacturers. The company has already been able to attract a whole host of studios to its 3D audio format, while content available for DTS:X and Auro-3D is currently lacking in comparison.
“Dolby’s commitment to enabling spectacular experiences is realised through this collaboration that combines our industry-leading audiovisual technologies and Lionsgate’s incredible pipeline of exciting titles,” says Curt Behlmer, SVP, content solutions and industry relations, Dolby Laboratories.
“With this development, Dolby continues to enhance entertainment by giving people the ability to enjoy movies with stunning visuals and immersive object-based audio that draws them into the story on-screen in the comfort of their own homes.”
“We remain committed to being at the forefront of expanding and enriching the home entertainment experience for our audiences by incorporating state-of-the-art technologies,” adds Lionsgate Worldwide Home Entertainment president Ron Schwartz.
“We’re proud to partner with our friends at Dolby to master titles in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, giving consumers the opportunity to experience their favourite Lionsgate movies in an entirely new way.”
Lionsgate has yet to reveal what movies will be getting the Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision treatments, but given this is a partnership, rather than just a simple contract covering certain films – it’s likely to be quite a few.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as well as Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2 have already enjoyed a release in Dolby Atmos, with the latter also getting Dolby Vision at the cinema, so this isn’t the first time Lionsgate has supported Dolby’s formats.