back to article Cineworld flaunts '4D' movies

British cinema chain Cineworld has announced it will branch out beyond mere 3D offerings - 'Pah!' - into a fourth dimension, with vibrating seats (ahem) that synchronise their shaking to the action on screen. The company will open the first of these movie houses in Glasgow next month, fitting 35 seats from simulator specialist …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. EddieD

    How long till Feel-Around?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCq_nzlou0Q for those who haven't seen The Kentucky Fried Movie.

    I get motion sickness, and 3D goggles don't work for me. I think I'll give this a body swerve.

  2. Spiracle
    Coat

    Do they mean 5d?

    We've already got breadth, depth, height and time don't we?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Do they mean 5d?

      I wasn't aware the fifth dimension was defined as "shaking seat"

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Do they mean 5d?

      I was thinking that. Surely a 4D film would be a single near black screen of every single frame transposed onto each other, as the time is being shown.

  3. Arrrggghh-otron

    Nothing new...

    We've had this at our local cinema for years. Thoughtfully provided by kids constantly kicking the back of your chair. Still it will be novel for it to be in time with what's happening in the film...

  4. eurobloke

    Brave New World?

    How long before we start getting "feelies"?

  5. thegrouch
    Flame

    Never mind the tech

    Simply indulge in a nice Chicken Tikka Dhansak before visiting said picture house and before you know it, the world will shift beneath you.

  6. Paratrooping Parrot
    Facepalm

    If you weren't feeling sick from watching 3D films, you will definitely feel sick now! I guess it will not just be sticky popcorn on the floor, but yucky puke!

  7. Stanislaw
    Coat

    Cineworld flaunts '4D' movies

    Shouldn't that be "World Of Cine"?

    Hello to Jason Isaacs, by the way.

  8. Goldmember
    Stop

    I hope...

    ..this won't mean they put the monthly subscription prices up. It still grates on me that I have to pay an additional charge to watch a 3D movie, even though I already have a pre-paid pass AND I bring my glasses back (grrr).

  9. Ian Ferguson
    Thumb Down

    Instead of gimmicks designed to pull in higher ticket prices, I wish they'd realise that cinema is no longer a premium experience, and drop ticket prices to bare-minimum levels to compete with home entertainment.

    Surely nobody seriously believes this seat-vibrating tech will become 'a new standard'. It's incredible enough that 3D has kind of taken off, and that's with a truly astonishing combined effort from Hollywood, cinemas and home entertainment manufacturers.

    1. James Micallef Silver badge
      Holmes

      One reason 3D has taken off is that for quite a few films, the local cinemas (Geneva, but I'm sure it's true of other locations) ONLY show the 3d version not the 2d, or show the 2d only in the very early / very late slots. I suspect 3D is taking off in spite of the punters, not because of them.

      In quite a lot of films, 3D is a gimmick, and the 3D is abused with lots of stuff coming at me off the screen, some of which is nausea-inducing (Beowulf, Transformers). Although to be fair the 3D tech has improved a lot in the last 5 years, and I've seen a couple of well-executed films (3 Musketeers) where the 3D is used for depth of field in the background, with a very subtle and rather pleasing effect.

  10. Purlieu

    Sensurround

    "Earthquake" (1974)

    1. Paul RND*1000

      Re: Sensurround

      Yep, my wife recalls watching this movie at the cinema and the seats shaking.

      Mind you she lived in southern California at the time so it's not out of the question that there was an actual earthquake going on. But she's pretty sure it was the seats.

  11. Lord Midas
    Mushroom

    2012?!?

    I'd love to watch what would happen when someone is watching, say 2012, and when Yellowstone explodes!! The seat would have to literally rip itself out of its housing, and you're there having a drink of coke...

    Damp crotches ago go.

  12. This post has been deleted by its author

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Porn will lead the way again!

    Did the earth move for you?

  14. Haku
    FAIL

    Seat but not floor?

    Nice gimmick making the seat shake, but shaking the seat alone is not enough, the floor under your feet need to shake also to convey the immersiveness the shaking is supposed to give.

  15. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    We have a local cinema...

    Where they believe that it should be affordable and comfortable. In the stalls, comfy great swivel chairs on castors around small tables, in the circle you can't *reach* the seats in front if you're not over six-two. Did I mention the bar? And films which are a mix of mainstream, arthouse, foreign, and just plain oddball suggestions from the audience.Curiously, this cinema is usually sold out a month in advance, while the slightly cheaper chain cinemas sit there with six people in.

    No, I'm not going to tell you where it is. Do your own research.

    Of moving chairs... not interested, thanks. They can go in the bin with the 3-d headache generators.

  16. Oliver Mayes

    So now I'll have to put up with the noise, movement and inevitable shrieking and screaming of a funfair ride while I'm trying to watch a film?

    Yet another reason to not bother with the cinema anymore.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Angel

      I believe they call that "a Michael Bay production".

  17. Efros
    Paris Hilton

    Sybian anyone

    Next step full immersion.

  18. Alan Edwards
    Thumb Up

    Sensurround

    Sounds like Sensurround from the mid 70s. Turn the bass up to 11, and put giant sub-woofers under the seats to vibrate everything. Like someone already said, Earthquake in 1974 was one film that used this system.

    Sounds like this system has actuators in the seat bases so it can be more subtle and do slower movements.

  19. The Jay
    Trollface

    Warcraft 2 moment...

    "or swaying with the ship in the next Pirates of the Bahamas film."

    ... "Stop rocking the boat...."

    ... "You're making me sea sick..."

    ... "BLEEAUUUUGH!!!"

  20. Citizen Kaned

    surely...

    this is just the 0.1 LFE channel.

    my B&W sub does this anyway, sat on a nice comfy couch. it also shakes the floor :)

  21. thefutureboy

    So...

    ...that'll be at least another fiver on top of the ticket price.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    could be a laugh

    Not sure if this is a novelty enough to make me want to get nailed for £20 to watch a film that will be on sky movies in 12 months time.

    Things that might make me go to the cinema and pay the £15+ a ticket -

    1) No advertising.

    2) Someone who actually kicks out the little nobheads that sit on their phone during the film.

    3) No condescending "don't pirate me" messages.

    4) Comfy seats

    5) A picture that doesn't look like its got holes and crap all over it. (come on!)

    Home cinema is definitely winning the battle at the moment. I can get a movie from skymovies/netflix/love film for not much money, don't have to get a baby sitter, don't have to pay silly money for drinks and nibbles and don't have some annoying shit sat behind me saying "check out this cool app man".

    get your head round this cinema folks.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: could be a laugh

      The Odyssey cinema in Belfast has VIP seats that seem to hit most of your requirements:

      1) No advertising. - Apart from a couple trailers, I don't recall seeing any TV-style adverts the last few times I've went.

      2) Someone who actually kicks out the little nobheads that sit on their phone during the film - As it is a tenner a ticket the nobheads tend not to spend that much, and there are fewer spaced out seats that are booked in advance..

      3) No condescending "don't pirate me" messages. Again, I don't recall this nonsense.

      4) Comfy seats - As a 6 foot 3er of a hefty weight, this is the big reason why I book here. Big leather recliners with a central arm console between the 2 seats, with cupholders for drinks/hot nuts/popcorn

      5) A picture that doesn't look like its got holes and crap all over it. (come on!) - Cinema screen is the same as any other to be fair, though I think that's part of the charm of cinema.

    2. Citizen Kaned

      Re: could be a laugh

      i agree. i havent been to the cinema in years. i think avatar got me out to see what the 3d was like.

      i would much rather sit at home and watch a movie on a big screen (i sit less than 2m from a 42" TV), with great sound (my speakers blow away cinema speakers in terms of clarity and not stupid volume) and sit on my comfy sofa.

      i can also pause when i need a pee and not fight past loads of people. the cinema is dead. long live home cinema!

  23. The Original Ash
    Trollface

    4 Dimensions?

    I'm having trouble finding anything recently released by Hollywood that isn't 1D.

  24. Bonce

    Spillages

    Anybody else have the old Jim'll Fix It footage of the boy scouts on the rollercoaster brought to mind?

  25. SpaMster
    Facepalm

    Seen it, done it, got the t-shirt

    Nice to hear were about four years behind every other country technology wise

  26. ian_
    Facepalm

    time

    ‎4D cinema!?! amazing!! That's like.. 3D, but the story actually moves forward in time instead of being a single still photo!?! Incredible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime.

  27. b166er

    Should make heavy petting in the back row even more fun!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    But...

    Does it have any attachments for those 3D Grumble Flicks?

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meh.... not new.

    Seems that Disney had seats like this 40 maybe 50 years ago in some of the old space and traveloge attractions at the old Disneyland in California.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Meh.... not new.

      Indeed they do. A lot of the Disneyland attractions have this and it's quite effective when used in the right circumstances.

      - Seats move side-to-side, back and forth, shake

      - Water spray from the seat in front

      - Smoke/steam

      - Smells

      It all sounds a bit campy, but if used properly can be quite entertaining.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Sod it

    Im up voting this simply because "something" is coming to a place near me! yeah i doubt ill like it, and yeah it'll probably make me want to take a pee but bugger it, its coming to GLASGOW!!

    :)

  31. Jon H

    Theme parks

    Don't theme parks and other attractions often have "4D" cinemas? I know Babbacombe Model Village down near Torquay has a little one, the seats move and you get sprayed with jets of water and air.

This topic is closed for new posts.