Innaugural DVD

Gladiator would be an EXCELLENT choice, or, if a fan of Diana Krall, here LIVE in PARIS DVD looks and sound terrific!! Toy Story, Bugs Life and Courage Under Fire (though not sure if it is on DVD or not, definitely LD!!)
are good films, transfers, and great sound too!

3 great sci-fi would be Thirteen Floor, Fifth Element, and
the Phantom Menace are all wonderful for surround.

Dan

My vote would go to "The Matrix". However, "Seven Years in Tibet" is also stunning on DVD. Not a special effects wonderland, but the photography is great.

U-571 has fantastic surround effects and your wife can ogle The Matthew.

Although it doesn't have a lot of glitzy surround effects, Harry Potter has gorgeous sound.

will

With your caution about your wife's lack of interest in the "supernatural", I am still going to recommend "Dark City", one of the most original sci-fi films of the past 10 years. It is not only a wonderfully unique movie, but also has a soundtrack that will really wring out your HT system.

Here are a few other favorites of "demo" quality:
1. "Super Speedway" -- originally an IMAX film about the development of the 1999 Newman-Haas Indy car, it has some great footage and excellent sound (but will probably not have much appeal to your wife...).
2. "Stop Making Sense", the DVD of the 1985 concert by the Talking Heads. Arguably the best rock concert on DVD.
3. "Calle 54", a superb music DVD featuring a number of the best contemporary Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz stars. The soundtrack was the 2001 Grammy Award winner for Best Latin Jazz recording.
4. "Saving Private Ryan" -- at least the first 30 minutes is demo quality.

Well, a few things come to mind. Some of the above are great demo disks, but many great demo disks have little or no appeal to most (not all) women. Like speedway as SD mentioned--great disk but likely little appeal for your wife. I would probably have put Saving Private Ryan on the "even less appeal" list. The first 30 minutes, while absolutely demo quality, is about the most horrific war scene I've ever scene. I can barely stomach watching it. Seven Years in Tibet--now there is a great story and great filming. It's not going to be an audio demo, but for picture quality it's superb---long movie though. The Matrix is great--but very Treky. Mission Impossible 2--great fun, great filming, and what woman won't watch Tom Cruise for 1.5 hours, even if the story line is a little zany? Now there is one sci-fi, that even my wife likes, and it's a great demo--the Fifth Element. Get it on the superbit version if you don't already have it. If you like Pacino and DeNiro--Heat is great all around. Story line, filming, acting--everything. One of my favorites.