This is exciting news: the new film will be mixed with Dolby's new audio technology. http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-n...arkness-will-use-dolby-atmos-in-theaters.html http://www.slashgear.com/star-trek-into-darkness-teams-with-dolby-atmos-06255886/
I'm not familiar with Dolby Atmos. What is it and how does it compare to 5.1 or 7.1? (Or is it something completely different from either?)
From watching the video in the second link I think it's something like a 62.1 audio system? It uses every speaker in the theatre individualy for pin point audio location and uses overhed speakers for the first time. Another advantage seems to be dynamic downgrading without different audiomixes for different soundsystems... or something like that.
In a nutshell, it allows for up to 128 individual sounds tracks across 64 speaker feeds. This allows directors and theater owners to provide custom sound mixes for individual rooms and localize sounds within the room. Think of it this way: Mono - 1 speaker feed - sound come from the source of the video Stereo - 2 speaker feeds - sounds can come from left, right or both, allowing for sounds to move across the screen. 5.1/7.1 are similar, but the allow for left/right and front/center/middle, etc. Atmos takes that to a new level with overhead speakers so sounds are actually moving throughout the audience. The Dolby video in the OP link is very informative if you want more info.
All I'm concerned with is the ability to clearly hear the movie. I don't need theaters to come up with another reason to jack up ticket prices.
^WORD! I've noticed that the dialogue tracks on a lot of recent films have been "undermixed" and hard to hear.