Renowned performance-enhancing AV brand Dolby has today announced a deal with AMC Entertainment that will see a major expansion of cinema auditoria capable of supporting the premium Dolby Cinema experience.
Dolby Cinema is Dolby’s flagship theatrical offering, combining (as anyone who has been lucky enough to experience it will confirm) class-leading contrast and brightness with vivid but precise colors, ultra-comfortable seats, and Dolby Atmos sound to make watching a film at the cinema a more comfortable and, above all, more immersive experience.
As you might guess from the extent of the difference Dolby Cinema makes to the cinema-going experience, retrofitting existing auditoria to accommodate Dolby Cinema can be a challenge. Yet Dolby and AMC claim that some of the new screens will be ready to use this year, with a grand total of 40 new Dolby Cinema screens scheduled to be up and running in the U.S. by the end of 2027. That would represent an increase of almost 25% on the existing U.S. Dolby Cinema count.
AMC states in today’s joint announcement with Dolby that it sees the expanded partnership with Dolby as “another significant step in its ongoing commitment to invest in innovative technology and deliver the very best in premium experiences for its moviegoers.” In fact, as well as adding so many new Dolby Cinema locations to its U.S. offering, AMC has also revealed that it’s selected Dolby Vision as its high dynamic range offering of choice, making it clear to moviegoers that if they go to a Dolby Cinema, they will get a truly step up theatrical experience.
The expansion of the Dolby Cinema/AMC Entertainment partnership come at a time when cinemas are both looking for ways to get more people back in their auditoria post Covid, and when premium movie-going experiences have come to represent a significant and growing share of the total box office take. In fact, 2024 marked Dolby Cinema’s strongest year ever at the box office, breezing past the previous record-setting box office grosses it enjoyed in 2023.
Growing the number of Dolby Cinema-equipped auditoria so significantly also makes sense when you consider how many films are being made/mastered in the premium Dolby Cinema format. More than 725 theatrical features have been released or confirmed for release in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos at the time of writing, with no less than 49 of the biggest 50 box office films of the past five years enjoying Dolby Cinema releases. Upcoming blockbusters set to be released in Dolby Cinema include Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Karate Kid: Legends, F1, Jurassic World Rebirth, and a little movie called Avatar: Fire And Ash.
“For a decade, AMC and Dolby have provided moviegoers with incredible premium experiences,” says AMC Entertainment Chairman and CEO Adam Aaron, “making the biggest blockbusters even bigger, brighter, louder and more immersive. The expansion of this partnership is a powerful demonstration of AMC’s ongoing commitment to deliver this premium experience – sought out by filmmakers, studio partners, and our guests – to even more of our theaters and AMC moviegoers around the United States.”
—
Related Reading
Dolby Atmos Sound Coming To All 2026 Cadillac EVs – And Some 2025 Models Too
Super Bowl LIX To Be shown With Dolby Vision HDR And Dolby Atmos Sound For The First Time
Sony Unveils Eye-Popping Next-Gen TV Technology – And Again, it Isn’t OLED
