If you have yet to see what Dolby Cinema is all about, you now have the perfect excuse to learn more: The Matrix is headed to more than 135 of AMC’s Dolby Cinema theaters at the end of August in celebration of the film’s 20th anniversary. If you live close enough to a participating theater, get ready for the Wachowskis’ groundbreaking sci-fi film to blow your mind all over again.
The Dolby Cinema experience combines Dolby Atmos surround sound, which utilizes up to 128 speakers to create a remarkably realistic soundscape, with Dolby Vision, an advanced HDR solution that supports close to a billion different shades of color. Most importantly Dolby Vision screens have a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, as opposed to standard theaters which top out at a 5,000:1 or 8,000:1 contrast ratio.
The blacks are midnight dark. The whites are blazing white. It looks incredible.
While you can get both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision at home, it pales in comparison to the laser projection and powerful, multi-speaker sound systems you’ll get in a Dolby Cinema theater. The theaters also include curved screens that make the viewing experience more immersive than ever, cushioned walls to eliminate outside noise, fantastically dark rooms, luxurious seating, and air-conditioned auditoriums. As we’ve said before, once you’ve seen a movie in a Dolby Cinema venue, any standard theater experience will be completely ruined.
The cutting-edge visuals of The Matrix and advanced tech go hand-in-hand, making the virtual reality thriller a perfect fit for Dolby Cinema. For its 20th birthday celebration, The Matrix has received a complete overhaul, and will be released in Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision for the first time. The rerelease begins on August 30 and lasts for just one week.
Of course, all of that technology comes at a cost. In major metropolitan areas, tickets for The Matrix are running at $21. It’s a premium theater experience, and it’s priced accordingly. Advance tickets are on sale now.
The Matrix debuted in March 1999, and tells the story of a hacker named Neo, played by America’s reigning sweetheart Keanu Reeves, who learns that the world he knows isn’t what it seems. After breaking free of the Matrix, Neo teams with Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) to lead a rebellion against man’s mechanical overseers.
The film wowed audiences with its innovative “bullet-time” sequences and won four Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects. Two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, followed in 2003.
