A Fresno movie theater is offering more than the sights and sounds of a feature film. Now you can feel and smell it — if you’re willing to pay the price.
The tech reached the United States in 2014, debuting in Los Angeles with an all-senses screening of “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
One of the theaters at Edwards Fresno 22 has been rigged up with what’s called 4DX. The seats shift and vibrate in sync with the movie, and a module on the back of each seat (or, for those in the front row, on a long panel) emits odors, liquids, and lights that, um, enhance the viewing experience. The 4DX theater at Edwards debuted with screenings of Disney’s live-action “Aladdin.”
The technology was developed by a South Korean theater chain and opened in Seoul in 2009. The tech reached the United States in 2014, debuting in Los Angeles with an all-senses screening of “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
4DX pulls together elements of enhanced filmgoing that have been around for decades. In the 1960s, theaters spritzed theatergoers with Smell-O-Vision. The teeth-rattling technology of Sensurround was briefly popular in the 1970s with movies like “Earthquake” and “Rollercoaster.” And anyone who has taken a ride on “Star Tours” at Disneyland knows the experience of synchronized motion.
If you want to take a spin with 4DX, be prepared to pay for it. The price for an “Aladdin” show at Edwards is $24.45. By comparison, a 3D screening costs $16.45 and a normal 2D show is $12.45.
