Movie theaters have spent decades trying to give audiences something they could never get in their living rooms. First it was bigger screens, then 3D—now, it’s moving seats.
A Texas moviegoer says her first time in a 4DX auditorium made her laugh, cry, and wonder whether something had punched her.
‘You will feel punches’
Austin content creator Hailey Curiel (@haileycuriel) shares a video discussing the cinema re-release of “Avengers: Endgame.” She tells her audience she watched the movie in 4DX. Her video has more than 1,500 views.
“I went to go see my very first 4DX movie last night, and I wanted to talk about it,” Curiel says. “I don’t know the technical term for 4DX, but you feel your seat move. You feel gusts of wind. Your hair gets all over the place. Rain scenes, water scenes, you will feel the water.”
Curiel says fight scenes shocked her.
“You will feel punches in your back,” she says. “Mind you, it’s not like a very powerful punch. … You’re like, ‘Did I get [expletive] punched right now?’ Like, that’s crazy.”
Curiel credits the people she went with for making the whole wild experience extra-fun.
“We were just laughing the whole time because we are getting knocked around,” she says. “When you’re getting knocked around, you can’t help but … laugh.”
Curiel did note, however, that 4DX is a highly “stimulating” experience. She tells her audience that she made sure to eat and let her food settle well before seeing the movie. She also says it had really helped that she’d seen “Endgame” before.
“I probably would have been super distracted if I went to see ‘Endgame’ for the very first time in 4DX … there’s just so much going on,” Curiel says. “I feel like it’s just such an immersive and stimulating experience. You don’t really know what’s about to happen, or when you’re about to get flopped around, but it is just so fun.”
Curiel concludes her video by saying that “if you haven’t experienced 4DX ever, [she] would definitely recommend it.”
The history of 4DX
There are semi-conflicting reports about the origins of 4DX cinema.
ABC News reported in 2014 that CJ 4DPlex, a South Korean company, first put 4DX on a screen in 2009 after the technology had been “once confined to theme parks.”
However, a Korean publication reported in 2014 on a 2010 “Avatar” cinema re-release in 4-D. That coverage quoted 4DPlex CEO Choi Byung-hwan as saying, “We’ve been thinking about 4-D since the 90s.”
The Film Stage reported in February 2010 that CJ-CGV, Korea’s most popular theater chain, started with one equipped theater but, as of publication, had four. The Film Stage wrote that the chain had prepared for 4DX “Avatar” after the earlier success of 4DX “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”
4DX reached the United States in 2014. ABC News reported that year that Regal LA Live in Los Angeles showed “Transformers: Age of Extinction” in 4DX. According to ABC, it was the first U.S. theater to offer the format.
Regal Cinemas’ website now describes 4DX as “a fully immersive cinematic experience that makes you feel like you’re in the movie.”
“4DX is widely considered to be the biggest innovation in cinematic technology to date,” the website says. “Developed in South Korea, this immersive format was created by the leading Asian entertainment conglomerate, CJ, and is now the future of cinema, bringing Hollywood films to real life.”
Rolling Stone describes the 4DX experience as including seats that rock and move in all directions, overhead fans, and smells. The publication advises moviegoers to sit upright, as leaning back into one’s seat “is incredibly disorienting.”
@haileycuriel
Subplot News reached out to Curiel via email.
