A Korean company has built cinemas with seats which rock and special effects like wind, fog, strobe lights and scents are synchronised with the on-screen action. The company, CJ 4DPlex, has opened an office in Los Angeles where computer programmes are written for the action films. It plans to build America’s first 4D screen multiplex in New York and if it is a success, they will expand into Europe.
The biggest 4D film in Seoul last week was “Kung Fu Panda”, the martial arts cartoon adventure with the voices of Jack Black, playing panda Po and Angelina Jolie. A Korean blogger reported, “The seats have massage chair motors so that they punch you (lightly) in the kidneys or bottom when Po gets hit or falls down. At the end bubbles floated down from the ceiling to simulate fireworks - hilarious and well worth the ticket price.” But not every movie fan is happy with the physical effects. Some customers complained of feeling damp from the water effects after watching “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” but ‘smelling sweet’ like Captain Sparrow star Johnny Depp.
And there were reports of people becoming nauseous and going temporarily deaf after watching “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” where the major smell is the scent of burnt rubber. CJ 4DPlex was the first company to make a 4D version of James Cameron’s 3D futuristic blockbuster “Avatar”.
Audiences lapped up the smell of explosives and the howling wind effects so much so that the company is opening another three 4D cinemas with seats that bend backwards and fly into the air. “They are in a niche right now, like Imax giant screens a decade ago,” a Seoul film distributor told.
