Theater chains are using multi-sensory technology to entice movie-goers

Movie theater chains are revitalizing how consumers watch movies on the big screen to recapture lost revenue after the pandemic.

Cineworld Group, which emerged from bankruptcy last year, is making the movie experience even more immersive by expanding its use of 4DX, which incorporates on-screen visuals with synchronized motion seats and environmental effects like vibration, water, wind, lightning and scents. 

The technology was developed in 2009 by CJ 4DPLEX to make moviegoers feel like they are part of the movie.

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On Wednesday, Cineworld’s subsidiary, Regal, will open the largest multisensory 4DX theater in the world. 

The Regal Times Square location in New York City has a record-breaking 296 seats, a 60-feet-wide screen, four fog machines and eight shaker amplifiers, which help the seats move. The theater is also equipped with 30 rainstorm fans with 14 fans placed directly above audience members, which marks a first for any 4DX auditorium in the U.S. 

“We had an opportunity to do something bigger, something nicer, something cooler. And how do we bring people out? Why don’t we do the best experience where you not only see and watch and hear a movie, but also feel the movie,” Cineworld Group CEO Eduardo Acuna told FOX Business. 

The largest 4DX theater in the world is opening at Regal Times Square in New York. (Bill Meisenzahl and Matt Clements of Full Blue Productions)

“After the pandemic, theaters had to prompt film fans to reactivate their movie-going muscles, and they’ve been looking for new ways to event-ize the movie-going experience ever since,” Stan Ruszkowski, president of The Boxoffice Company, told FOX Business. 

The Boxoffice Company provides ticketing and showtimes for TikTok, IMDb and Google.

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Ruszkowski said movie theater companies are going to continue to look for ways to create an “immersive, unduplicatable experience that you can only enjoy at the movies.” 

It is an effort to try and win back consumers who subscribed to streaming services in the early days of the pandemic because of lockdown orders. In 2020, streaming service subscriptions passed the 1 billion market and grew 14% in 2021 to reach 1.3 billion, according to data by the Motion Picture Association. 

However, major blockbuster hits like “Top Gun: Maverick” have been credited for bringing people back to the theaters. The movie, starring Tom Cruise, grossed more than $520 million domestically and over $486 million internationally in the first five weeks of its release in May 2022. 

The largest 4DX theater in the world is opening at Regal Times Square in New York. (Bill Meisenzahl and Matt Clements of Full Blue Productions)

Ruszkowski argued that this new theater is a smart business play by Regal, given that “theatergoers are looking for that extra something when they’re seeing a big-screen epic.” 

They are also willing to “pay extra for a ticket to get those 4D physical effects inside the auditorium,” Ruszkowski said.

The Regal Times Square is the first complex in North America that has two theaters with these immersive features, which CJ 4DPLEX said underscores “consumer demand for a premium theatrical experience.” 

Last year, the 4DX format brought in close to $50 million at the box office last year in the U.S. alone.

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Today, Regal operates about 5,808 screens in 428 theaters in 41 states along with the District of Columbia and Guam, according to its website. It is one of CJ 4DPLEX’s largest partners, with 49 4DX theaters in operation as well as 52 ScreenX theaters. 

Acuna said that the “4DX screens are the highest, best performing auditoriums in our company.”

Aside from Regal, CJ 4DPLEX has 62 other 4DX theaters and 29 ScreenX theaters with Cineworld and CCI across Europe and Israel.