The new Dolby Atmos theater audio system presents perhaps the noisiest Pixar movie in the most immersive manner yet, and the Disney Digital 3D “Brave” made a very loud box office-topping debut with $66.7 million domestically (plus $13.5 mil. overseas), according to Hollywood.com Box Office.
That was more than three times the gross of the next closest movie, another animated 3D movie, DreamWorks’ “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” with 20 mil. in its third weekend, raising its cume to more than $157 mil.
The five 3D movies that ranked among the top nine for the week, including “Prometheus” ($10 mil.; $109 to date), “Marvel’s The Avengers” ($7 mil.; $598 mil. to date), and “Men in Black 3” ($5.6 mil.; $163 mil. to date), represented a cumulative gross of more than $103 mil. “Brave opened in a Pixar-record 4,164 locations, 2,790 of which are 3D screens.
Only 14 theaters are equipped with the new Dolby Atmos sound system that adds two rows of speakers on the ceiling and allows filmmakers to create as many as 128 sound “objects” or hot spots in the space of the theater.
I was invited by Dolby to one of those 14 theaters Saturday to experience the first movie employing the technology. Dolby worked with Pixar on a short and visually-dynamic animated branding trailer preceding the movie that follows a falling maple seed as it spins to different areas of the screen while dropping to the ground. Then comes the traditional new Pixar animated short “La Luna,” a typically clever piece depicting a fable-esque coming-of-age story of a young French boy learning the important work of two men who are apparently his father and grandfather. There is no English dialogue, and we’re not even sure if the French was understandable, bu the message is clearly humorous and touching. A ladder extended from the row boat towards the moon exploits the use of 3D by pushing slightly off the screen into the audience.
It’s when the movie itself starts that the Dolby Atmos system becomes the most evident. “Brave,” set in the Scottish Highlands of old, is the story of a rebellious teen (Pixar’s first princess movie) who inadvertently casts a spell that turns her Queen mother into a bear, and spends the rest of the movie trying to remove the spell while learning a lesson about what’s important.
It’s when Princess Merida is shooting arrows and riding her loyal horse through the forest that we best hear the effects and impact of the expanded sound system as the feathered projectiles, wind, and forest foliage feel as if they are all around us. It’s not a dramatic difference and the average moviegoer might not consciously be aware of the distinction, in part because much of the film is filled with so many loud sounds from all quadrants — lots of people yelling at each other, noisy chase scenes, and a few intense scenes with a large beast. Nonetheless, it offers an enhancement to the experience, just as the 3D provides a subtle deeper level of visual immersion into what may be the most technically impressive computer-animation of a fantasy world.
Finally, Pixar offers a nice text tribute to the company’s late co-founder Steve Jobs midway through the closing credits.
— By Scott Hettrick