Ever since 1926, when The Jazz Singer broke the silence of the silver screen, sound has played an integral role in the development and appreciation of motion pictures. Fourteen years after the advent of talkies, Disney's Fantasia upped the ante by introducing fully directional sound called Fantasound to theater audiences. After myriad experimental and moderately successful multichannel processes, motion picture sound really came of age in 1977, when the popularity of Star Wars helped entrench Dolby Stereo as the dominant surround sound process in theaters. Dolby Surround, and later, Dolby Digital, also became the preferred sound in home theater systems, as more and more people thrilled to the cinematic flybys of jet planes and the ricochet of gunfire in their own living rooms.