10 Epic Movie Scenes for Testing Dolby Atmos
As home theater enthusiasts continue to invest in increasingly sophisticated audio setups, the demand for content that truly showcases these systems’ capabilities has never been higher. With Dolby Atmos now available in countless homes through soundbars and receivers—and with devices like the Apple TV 4K making it easier than ever to access Atmos enabled content—movie fans are hungry for scenes that justify their investment and deliver the immersive experience they were promised. Having spent considerable time testing various Atmos-enabled films, I believe certain iconic moments stand head and shoulders above the rest in demonstrating what this technology can truly achieve when utilized to its fullest potential. Here are what I consider to be the top ten movie scenes that will not only test your Dolby Atmos system but showcase exactly why spatial audio represents the future of home entertainment:
1. F1: The Movie
Apple TV’s motion picture F1: The Movie is an absolute showcase for Dolby Atmos, especially once it kicks into high gear around the 3-minute mark. Fueled by the immersive soundtrack of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”, you’re dropped right into the chaos of the racetrack with cars screaming past you through the surround speakers, radio chatter crackling around you, and my favorite Atmos ear candy - fireworks exploding overhead in the height channels! It’s a sensory overload in the best possible way as the spatial audio creates a complete racetrack soundscape that places you right in the middle of the action. If you want to demonstrate what your system can do with multiple simultaneous sound sources, this scene delivers.
F1 sound showcase timestamp: 0:03:00
2. John Wick
At the 5-minute mark of John Wick, there’s a conversation scene set in the rain that perfectly demonstrates the immersive power of Dolby Atmos. As Wick talks with his old friend Marcus (Willem Dafoe), the sound of raindrops falling all around you creates an incredibly enveloping atmosphere. The height and surround speakers coalesce to bring the rain to life above and around you, making you feel like you’re standing right there in the downpour with him. It’s a subtle but effective moment I believe showcases how Dolby Atmos can transform even a quiet dialogue scene into something truly immersive.
Stunning rainfall immersion: 0:05:00
3. Angel Has Fallen
Scrub to the 23:17 mark in Angel Has Fallen, and you can experience a brief but spectacular Dolby Atmos moment when a fighter jets screaming past in a diagonal sweep from over your left shoulder to the front right speaker. The fly-by uses the height and surround channels to perfection, creating a precise spatial trajectory that makes the aircraft feel like it’s cutting right through your room. It’s a quick scene, but it’s one of those perfect demonstrations of what Dolby Atmos was made for—placing you right in the middle of high-octane action with object-based audio that makes you instinctively duck.
Thrilling jet fly-by: 0:23:17
4. Stranger Things Season 5, Ep.8
In episode 8 of Stranger Things, the antagonist Vecna taunts character Jim Hopper (David Harbour) while remaining unseen, and the Dolby Atmos mix does something brilliantly unsettling with Vecna’s voice. His deep, foreboding dialogue moves randomly around the room from speaker to speaker, creating a disorienting and genuinely creepy effect. You never know where his voice will come from next - it might shift from a rear left surround speaker to the front heights, then suddenly appear beside you! This surround sound element adds an extra layer of psychological drama to an already tense scene, making Vecna’s invisible presence feel omnipresent and inescapable. While not technically a movie scene, this episode runs over 2 hours in length, so I figure it qualifies for the list. Check out this scene at 33:08 into the episode.
Surround sound terror: 0:33:08
5. The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element, starring Bruce Willis, has earned its place as a beloved sci-fi cult classic, and its iconic car chase scene is a perfect demonstration of Dolby Atmos surround sound. Beginning at 35:55, Flying cars zip around you in all directions as Willis puts his 23rd-century taxicab into a sharp nose-dive and navigates the futuristic cityscape while trying to evade capture by the police. In this scene, surround speakers and overhead channels bringing the vertical chaos to life in a thrilling moment that demonstrates how even older films can benefit from a modern Dolby Atmos mix, letting you experience this classic in a whole new way.
Sci-fi chase in Atmos: 0:35:55
6. Iron Man 3
The final battle in Iron Man 3 delivers an exceptional Dolby Atmos showcase when Tony Stark summons his entire Iron Legion to fight Aldrich Killian’s Extremis soldiers. Beginning at the 1 hour, 42 minute mark, dozens of armored suits zip through the air around you, creating a chaotic but thrilling demonstration of spatial audio as they weave overhead and through the surround channels. The airborne spectacle continues even after the fight ends. When Stark initiates the “Clean Slate Protocol,” his suits explode in a glorious fireworks display that uses every speaker in your system. It’s like the finale of a Fourth of July show, but with Iron Man suits lighting up your height channels instead of the sky.
The House Party Protocol: 1:42:00
7. Mulan
Disney’s live-action Mulan features a surprisingly literal use of Dolby Atmos at the 1 hour 23 minute mark. When the villain speaks from the upper rafters of a barn, his voice actually comes from the front left height speaker—directly matching his physical position above. It’s admittedly a bit tacky, almost too on-the-nose in its approach, but I have to admit this is a great demonstration of Dolby Atmos object-oriented audio in action. And whether you find it clever or gimmicky, there’s no denying it showcases exactly what the technology can do when filmmakers want to place a sound in a very specific location (for better or worse).
A voice in the your ceiling: 1:23:00
8. Dune
The spice mining scene in the 2021 Dune is a masterclass in immersive sound design, and it’s no surprise the film won Oscars for both Best Original Score and Best Sound. Cue your player to 1:03:10 and experience how the intense soundtrack blends with the dragonfly-inspired ornithopter and howling wind noise swirling through the height and surround channels. Meanwhile, the massive spice harvester delivers ample sub-bass action that’ll give your subwoofer a serious workout. This scene hits every part of your system, from the chaotic swirl of ornithopters, sand, and wind to the chest-thumping rumble of that massive harvester.
Dune’s award-winning immersive sound: 1:03:10
9. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning features a spectacular Dolby Atmos moment at 1:05:20 when Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) transitions from an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft into the ocean in a frenzied attempt to board a submarine. The scene moves in rapid sequence from aircraft sounds roaring overhead, to ocean spray whipping through the surround channels, to underwater ambience that envelops you as Hunt plunges beneath the surface. It’s a short but intense demonstration of how Dolby Atmos can handle rapid environmental shifts, taking you from the roar of the Osprey’s rotors overhead to the muffled chaos of being submerged in seconds. This kind of quick-fire soundscape transition is exactly what immersive audio was made for.
Osprey to ocean: 1:05:20
10. Surround Speaker Check App for Apple TV (Dolby Atmos demos and test tracks)
While these movie scenes offer fantastic moments to experience Dolby Atmos in action, there’s one more item on this list that’s not technically a movie—but provides an even more efficient way to test your system without having to queue up and scrub through multiple films. The Surround Speaker Check demo app provides a dedicated solution for exploring the full capabilities of your home theater gear, whether you’re running a soundbar or an A/V receiver setup. Unlike brief cinematic moments that require precise timing to catch, this app delivers content specifically engineered for testing and demonstrating every aspect of your Dolby Atmos system. It’s the perfect tool for fine-tuning your setup, impressing guests with a proper demo, or simply confirming that all your speakers are performing exactly as they should.
The app gives you three free test tracks to experience right away, and it’s available on both iPhone (for using AirPlay) and as a native tvOS app for Apple TV 4K hardware. If you want to dive deeper, a subscription unlocks over 2 hours of exclusive test content and premium Dolby Atmos demo tracks designed specifically to show off what your system can do. Download Surround Speaker Check from here, or enter a search for “Surround Speaker Check” in the tvOS App Store.
Whether you’re fine-tuning a new setup or just want to explore the full potential of your Dolby Atmos system, these scenes offer a good starting point—but the Surround Speaker Check app will give you a far more in-depth demo experience. Skip the hassle of scrubbing through movies and dive straight into content engineered specifically to showcase what your home theater can really deliver. Either way, your system is about to show you what it’s truly capable of.