Jackson Considering New Sound Format for The Hobbit

It seems being revolutionizing how films are played by going with 48 frames per second isn't enough of a challenge for Peter Jackson. He is also considering using The Hobbit films for the new Dolby Atmos Audio format. While Pixar's Brave will be the first to use it, The Hobbit will probably be the most ambitious film on the slate for new audio format. Right now only a few dozen theatres are able to play it with long term plans of making it at ubiquitous as the Dolby 5.1 format with it supported by theatres and home devices.

“Dolby are coming down to New Zealand to give us a demonstration,” Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Our particular postproduction schedule is reasonably tight (but) three dimensional sound would be fantastic. If we can do it I would be pretty keen.”

The Dolby Atmos format is developed to create “lifelike” and “immersive” sound and involves the placement of speakers all around an auditorium as well as across the ceiling. The system is designed to transmit up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio channels, and renders from 5.1 up to 64 discrete speaker feeds, according to Dolby.