Today is a great day for British movie fans desperate for a premium cinema experience. Dolby has announced that it’s going to be working with Odeon Cinemas (an AMC Entertainment Company) to open no less than seven new Dolby Cinemas across the UK over the next few years.
The Odeon deal will make it the first company to introduce the full Dolby Cinema experience to the UK - which means us Brits can finally look forward to being able to visit cinemas that benefit from Dolby Cinema’s astonishingly contrast rich, colourful and crisp laser-driven Dolby Vision picture quality; the power and clarity of Dolby Atmos sound (which adds height effects and places objects within a three-dimensional sound space rather than just delivering sound ‘channels’); and a premium viewing environment that includes luxurious recliner seating carefully designed to ensure that there’s not a bad seat in the house.
Having been lucky enough to experience Dolby Cinemas for myself a few times, I can say with no hesitation that it’s truly transformational. In fact, the only problem with it is that once you’ve gone Dolby Cinema, ordinary cinemas are ruined for you.
Dolby hasn’t announced yet where the seven new Dolby Cinema Odeons are going to be located (though an industry contact tells me that one is going to be the Odeon Leicester Square), or released any potential opening dates.
Dolby’s press statement makes a point of saying, though, that the seven Dolby Cinema sites will open "nationwide". Personally, given where I live myself, I’m thinking that Derby Dolby has a great ring to it…
Mark Way, Managing Director of Odeon Cinemas Group, had this to say about his company’s Dolby Cinema plans:
“This is a game changer in the UK, and our guests are going to love the stunning quality of Dolby Cinema. We’re very excited to be partnering with Dolby to be the first cinemas to offer this experience in seven Odeon cinemas across the country.”
Dolby has also revealed that it will be opening its debut Dolby Cinema site in Germany, at the renowned Kinopolis Mathäser Palast in Munich.
I will update this story when details of the first UK Dolby Cinema site are confirmed.