Dolby Atmos is one of the most significant developments in surround sound technology over the past decade. Compared to traditional surround sound systems where you could have the left, right, center, side, and rear speakers all around you for two dimensions of surround — Dolby Atmos height speakers add overhead sound for a third dimension to your soundstage that is object-based. (118 objects to be exact!) Atmos gives movie directors, audio engineers, and now music artists (with Apple Music’s spatial audio) the ability to add a sense of “height” or “elevation” to their presentation of sound. Before, they just had a balance to play with to position sound between the channels, but now there is a complete three-dimensional field that can place sound in an exact spot.

What takes a movie from good to great is oftentimes the sound. Hearing characters' voices clearly, mixing awesome sound effects, or scoring an incredible soundtrack is what keeps your focus and brings you into the film. Having the tool of mixing a movie in Atmos brings another element to the director's plate to help tell the story in a better and more immersive way. With more and more streaming services adding movies mixed in Dolby Atmos, we thought it would be fun to give you our top 10 movies that we love to watch to get the best experience. There are tons of awesome movies out there but we wanted to focus on just 10 movies and a few specific scenes that we use in our theater showcases or to show off to friends and family. Now, let’s get into it!

#10: Dune

Dune’s sound designer Mark Mangini and team along with the great film score composer Hans Zimmer take this film's audio to the next level. Not only have they seamlessly integrated the film's sounds with the score perfectly, it really comes to life with the use of Dolby Atmos. Director Denis Villeneuve approached this film's sound by not trying to make it sound like a “movie” but instead sound like a documentary capturing the sound as if you are actually there. He specifically focused on making the viewer feel as if they are in this world instead of trying to impress the viewer with sound. Like most on this list, the entire movie is great to experience Dolby Atmos at its finest but if you want to jump into a scene to show off to a friend, you should check out the scene about an hour into the movie where the sandworm is revealed. The height speakers are utilized to make you feel like you’re in the aircraft diving into the sand storm. It’s really well done and once you experience this movie in Dolby Atmos, you won’t want to watch it any other way.

#9: Blade Runner 2049

The entire movie has a great score that is mixed in an excellent way to show off Dolby Atmos. Especially, the final scene with rain falling was really well done — making it feel as if you are in the moment, with rain overhead falling down onto you engulfing you with water. As the car fills with water you feel the creaking and water sound effects start to fill up suffocate your surroundings. It feels as if you’re struggling to stay above the water with them along with the beautiful score mixed in. I noticed the subtle details of the score right above me coming down as the characters fight to move higher above the water. It was a really awesome feeling and perfect mix with Dolby Atmos.

#8: Unbroken

The first scene in Unbroken has you hearing the details of rotor blades humming by you while in a scary plane war. From the guns to the creaking of the planes, it utilizes the Atmos channels to help place objects all around you. This gave the director more freedom as to where things were happening within the film with more locations to place them. Overall, a really great example of a well-made movie mixed in Dolby Atmos.

#7: Us

Opening up in a carnival was an awesome experience to hear in Dolby Atmos. The games to the side rides overhead, and food machines all immerse you right into the movie from the start. We were impressed hearing the dialogue right up front without compromising the height channels of all the rambunctious noises of the carnival. Even the opening credits with the music stand out and separate the voices in the track extremely well. This movie was pretty spooky and the Atmos design is part of what really keeps you on edge for most of the scenes.

#6: Bohemian Rhapsody

Jump to the final performance and more specifically "We are the Champions". The sound designers of this movie worked with Queen’s sound engineers to use a 16 track archive recording and play the film tracks back in an empty stadium with 22 microphones which captured all the PA ambiance. Little details like this make this entire performance sound outstanding and totally realistic. The soundtrack and sound effects changed and matched every camera angle spot on. Using object-based audio with Dolby Atmos made you feel like you were standing there behind Freddy’s piano on stage or down in the crowd listening live for the first time. As the camera flies over the stage and moves into the crowd you feel the audio move with it and its a really cool sensation especially if you’ve never experience Atmos before. All of the little detailsls you don’t think about are included in this mix which is why it feels like you’re actually there with them. This felt like it was about as close as it gets to actually experiencing this concert if real life.

#5: The Matrix

The Matrix has always been an awesome movie to show off your speakers. It’s a classic with a ton of cool effects and great scenes. When Warner Brothers remastered it they decided to add in Dolby Atmos sound and it does not disappoint. I’d bet most people have seen this movie at some point in their life but if you get the chance to watch it with a high-quality Dolby Atmos setup, I promise it feels like you’re watching a completely different movie. The scene we recommend is the obvious lobby shootout scene. It has amazing effects and just sounds outstanding. If you want to show off your new Dolby Atmos setup, just start the movie from this scene and enjoy all the bullets flying by your ears!

#4: A Quiet Place

John Krasinski made a super fun movie that has some great thrills and performances from every actor/actress. The family must stay quiet in order to survive, which gives the entire movie an eerie feeling of silence during many scenes. When Emily Blunt gives birth she has to stay completely silent and make her way to the upstairs bathtub so the monster doesn’t detect where she is. You can hear every breath she takes along with the powerful footsteps of the monster creeping around below her. It feels as if you’re with Emily and you can hear the monster moving around in the atmos channels waiting to strike. I have to say when I watched this movie without Atmos, it just wasn’t the same. The way the monsters clicking sound effects crept over my head had me check my back to make sure there wasn’t a real monster in the room with me. It was so realistic. I The entire scene is so quiet, yet so powerful, and is a great example of how atmos can increase how immersive a movie can be without being a loud thunderous scene.

#3: A Star is Born

Originally, Bradley Cooper was skeptical about using Dolby Atmos in this movie. They decided to test the movie with a Dolby Atmos mix and Cooper was blown away when he heard the dramatic difference in Lady Gaga’s vocals during the Shallow performance. Cooper and Steven Morrow, the sound director, worked closely together to create a vision for where the sound would be in relation to the camera movement. “So if you were slightly closer to the drums, you’d hear them a little louder versus the electric guitar,” Morrow said. “Or if you were passing the electric guitar, you’d hear that or the sound of the drummer hitting his sticks. That sounds more present than at any other part of the song.” I’ve seen this movie a few times without Dolby Atmos and the performances still rock your room and make you really feel like you’re watching it live. But adding that extra dimension made me feel like I was actually on stage during the performance. It has to be one of my favorite musical Dolby Atmos performances.

#2: Gravity

Gravity takes place in space where astronauts have their mission interrupted by orbiting debris from a Russian satellite that exploded. The opening scene is quiet with some good dialogue that changes with the camera angles and really makes you feel the movement of George Clooney as he circles Sandra Bullock talking to everyone via his radio. It settles you into the openness of floating in space. When debris starts flying toward them, you can feel and hear these pieces go by and impact the ship in such a realistic way that you almost think you’re floating around with them. The entire sound design is absolutely incredible in this movie and the brilliant use of Dolby Atmos puts you right in the middle of outer space.

#1: Ready Player One

Our favorite movie scene to test out a home theater is the first race scene from Ready Player One. We love this one because if you’ve never experienced Dolby Atmos, it makes it really easy to locate and see how the sound moves. The race is loud, chaotic, and extremely fast-paced. With so much happening all at once, it can be hard to track and hear every detail and just end up feeling overwhelmed at the end of a powerful scene like this. By utilizing object-based Dolby Atmos, they created a way to feel each piece of the action in different parts of the room and they did an amazing job.

Did your favorite Dolby Atmos movie make the list?!

At Audio Advice, we build, design, and install personal home cinemas in homes nationwide. As more movie streaming platforms start offering more content in Dolby Atmos, you’ll want to upgrade your home theater room or soundbar to be Dolby Atmos compatible to be ready for the new standard of audio.

If you have any questions on these movies or how your home audio or home theater gear can be set up to take full advantage of all the cool 3D Atmos features, just give us a call at 888.899.8776, chat with us on AudioAdvice.com, or stop into one of our award-winning showrooms.