Dolby Atmos took movie theaters by storm in 2012, providing a more immersive and more exciting way to watch movies. So when a plethora of consumer electronics manufacturers announced a whole slew of gear that would support Dolby Atmos at home, the audio/video community got excited. Beginning this past August, companies such as Denon, Marantz, Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer and Yamaha began shipping home theater receivers and preamps that would decode the new immersive surround sound format. Also, Dolby announced that Atmos content would be delivered on standard Blu-ray Discs (using Dolby True HD) and via streaming services (using Dolby Digital Plus). But, several months after these announcements, there is still hardly any compatible software and those titles that are available (or have been announced) aren't what we'd call the cream of the cinematic crop.
The one Dolby Atmos Blu-ray title currently on the market is the latest "Transformers" movie (Transformers: Age of Extinction). The other four Dolby Atmos Blu-ray titles announced include Step Up: All In, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hercules and The Expendables 3. How bad are they? Well, with the exception of Hercules, which mustered a 60% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the other four are all certified "rotten," ranging from a dismal 18% (Transformers: Age of Extinction) to a still-pretty-bad 43% (Step up: All In). And, as luck would have it, we have just gotten confirmation from Paramount that Hercules will not get Dolby Atmos in its Blu-ray debut next week. The studio did not provide any details as to why plans changed but did tell us, "Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment does plan to incorporate the cutting-edge Dolby Atmos technology in future releases."
So why are the studios so hesitant to commit to the new format? And why are they selecting such low quality films as their launch titles? After all, Dolby recently announced the 200th theatrical film which is slated to include a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. In theaters, some great (or at least highly entertaining) films have gotten the Dolby Atmos treatment: Gravity, Godzilla, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Edge of Tomorrow, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Hobbit films, and more. But what do we get on Blu-ray? Forgettable sequels of franchises that were never all that ground-breaking to begin with.
Part of it is timing of course: Gravity (the poster child for Dolby Atmos) was released on Blu-ray before the home version of Dolby Atmos was finalized, and the latest Star Trek: Into Darkness release (on the "Star Trek: Compendium" Blu-ray set) was also in the can too soon to include Dolby Atmos. But what about The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Extended Version) or The Edge of Tomorrow? These films had Dolby Atmos soundtracks in movie theaters, and were released on Blu-ray after Transformers: Age of Extinction." Surely these could have included Dolby Atmos soundtracks, no?
The answer? We suspect it's "all about the money." With any new format, early adopters will line up to buy anything that's available in the format. So by including Dolby Atmos, Blu-rays that otherwise would have had dismal sales figures will have slightly less dismal sales figures. And for popular movies such as Godzilla, Edge of Tomorrow, The Hobbit, and more, the studio can sell the initial Blu-ray Disc to the fans and then do a double dip in Dolby Atmos later, for those who want the best audio they can get.
The problem, of course, is that it's a classic Catch 22: without content available, prospective customers will wait to buy the hardware. And without Dolby Atmos receivers and speakers in people's homes, there's no one to get excited about the format, hence no one to buy any Dolby Atmos-compatible titles that do get released. This "wait and see" attitude on the part of the studios will only serve to dampen any excitement in the format, just as it did for the home launch of 3D a few years ago.
In an age where home entertainment sales are lagging -- particularly physical media like Blu-ray Disc -- you would think the studios would embrace an exciting new format with open arms. But instead they appear to be waiting on the sidelines. C'mon, Hollywood: get in the game!
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