The newly rebranded Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre) in Hollywood is a live entertainment theater located in the Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex on the famous corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. The theater is best known as the permanent home of the annual Academy Awards®, which were first held there in March 2002. Since 2002, the 3,400-seat, 180,000-square-foot venue has also been the site for the Daytime Emmy Awards, the ESPY Awards, BET Awards, American Idol finals, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and many more. Guided tours are offered 7 days a week where visitors can see an Oscar® statuette, visit the Dolby Lounge and other exclusive celebrity hot spots, and view images from previous Academy Awards® ceremonies.
The Dolby Theatre recently installed an immersive new sound format called Atmos. Created at the Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco, the system creates a lifelike sound experience by lining speakers along the theater’s front, rear and side walls, as well as overhead. It can play up to 128 channels of sound at once. The world premiere of the animated movie “Brave” was held with Atmos at the theater on June 18, 2012.
And if you haven’t been to a Cirque du Soleil performance, the Dolby Theatre is home to “IRIS, a Journey Through the World of Cinema.” The large-scale production’s theme is the art of cinema, with music, dance and acrobatic feats. The show runs nearly year-round. For more information, visit www.dolbytheatre.com.
