Music by Camille Saint-Saëns, written scene by scene
One channel. Not necessarily one speaker.
1927. The Jazz Singer takes sync sound commercial.
Fifty years. Nothing displaced it until the mid 1970s.
Separate tracks for dialogue, effects and music
3 channels + 1 control track. Three speakers behind the screen.
96 speakers. The surround array at the Los Angeles premiere.
Six theaters. All it was ever installed in.
Three channels: L, C, R
The derived center channel stabilized screen audio and killed the “hole in the middle.”
Four channels: L, C, R, S
The matrixed surround channel was added at the request of director Frank Pierson and producer Jon Peters, who wanted live-concert ambience from the back of the house.
The film that made exhibitors install the format
First film to use dedicated subwoofers in theaters
People were saying, “How many channels should there be?” And people said two, people said four, one said eight. And I put my hand up and said, “five point one.” Everybody went, “What is he talking about?”
– Tomlinson Holman
Batman Returns, 19 June 1992
Originally called Dolby SR-D. Opened in ten equipped theaters.
5.1 discrete, data printed between the sprocket holes.
Jurassic Park, June 1993
Opened in over a thousand DTS-equipped theaters.
5.1 on external CD-ROMs, synced to the print by timecode.
Last Action Hero (1993), one week after DTS
The Phantom Menace, 1999
A matrixed rear center, steered out of the existing surround pair.
Toy Story 3, 2010
A discrete rear pair, splitting the surrounds into four zones.
128 objects, up to 64 speaker feeds.
June 2012. Brave, at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles.