4DX is a 4D film format developed by CJ 4DPlex, a subsidiary of South Korean cinema chain

CJ CGV CJ CGV ( Hangeul: CJ CGV (씨제이 씨지브이)㈜) is the largest multiplex cinema chain in South Korea and also has branches in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United States. The fifth largest multiplex theater company in ...

. It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. First introduced commercially in 2009, it presents films in both stereoscopic 3-D and monoscopic 2-D formats. CJ has licensed the technology worldwide. , CJ 4DPlex operates 678 4DX theaters in 65 countries through partnerships with more than 80 theaters, including

Wanda Cinemas Wanda Cinemas () is a cinema operator in China, headquartered in the Wanda Plaza ( 万达广场) in Chaoyang District, Beijing.Cineworld, Regal Cinemas, Kinepolis,

Cinépolis Cinépolis is a Mexican and international movie theater chain. Its name means ''City of Cinema'' and its slogan is ''La Capital del Cine'' ( en, the Capital of Cinema). Cinépolis was the biggest cineplex chain in Mexico, with 427 theaters in ...

Event Cinemas Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 cinema complexes c ...

Village Cinemas Village Cinemas is an Australian-based multinational film exhibition brand that mainly shows blockbuster, mainstream, children and family films and some arthouse, foreign language and documentary films. Since 2003, its Australian sites becam ...

, and Nu Metro. The company recorded an annual growth rate of more than 50 percent from 2013 to 2018.

History

South Korea

The 4DX technology has made its commercial debut at the CGV Sangam theater in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

in 2009. Following the success of '' Avatar'', the technology expanded to more theaters in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Mexico

In June 2011,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

-based

have invested $25 million and made an agreement with the CJ Group to bring the 4DX technology to its 11 locations in the country, with the first opening in a theater in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. It marked the technology's debut in the Americas and outside the Asia region, and the technology expanded throughout Mexico since its debut. In 2019, the company announced that they would install the "4DX Screen" theater, a theater with an expanded multi-sided screen with the 4DX theaters, in the country in the summer season of 2020.

South America

In 2012,

has expanded its 4DX reach to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, opening its first location at a theater in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The company later premiered the 4DX theater in Colombia at the El Limonar Shopping Center in Cali in July 2013. Cine Hoyts (now part of Cinépolis) opened the first 4DX theater in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 2013.

United States

At CinemaCon in March 2014, CJ 4DPlex announced that it had reached an agreement with AEG and Regal Cinemas to introduce the country's first 4DX auditorium at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. In 2018, CJ and Regal's new parent company Cineworld announced that it planned to expand 4DX to at least 79 Regal locations. As of 2020, there is an approximate total of 32 locations throughout the United States, primarily from various Regal locations, one

Marcus Theatres Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

location in Gurnee, two

locations, and CGV's second U.S. at The Source OC in

Buena Park Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 m ...

Canada

Cineplex Entertainment premiered a 4DX auditorium at one of its Toronto locations on 4 November 2016. It opened a second location in Calgary in August 2019. Currently, there are seven 4DX locations in Canada. * Cineplex Cinemas Metropolis, Burnaby * Scotiabank Theatre Chinook, Chinook, Alta. * Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton, Edmonton, Alta. * Cineplex Cinemas Hamilton Mountain, Hamilton, Ont. * Cineplex Cinemas Winston Churchill & VIP, Oakville, Ont. * Cineplex Cinemas Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont. * Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP, Toronto, Ont.

India

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, only few 4DX screens are currently available - PVR Cinemas has ten in Surat, Ahmedabad,

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

Noida Noida, short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Noida is a satellite city of Delhi and is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) o ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

, Kochi, Gurgaon and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

and

also has five screens in

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (), is a planned city situated on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, located in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The city i ...

, Saket and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. The first 4DX theatre in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

was launched at the Lulu International Shopping Mall in Kochi on 20 December 2021 with the release of '' Spider-Man: No Way Home''. Talking to press after signing the agreement, Ajay Bijli, CMD at PVR said, ''“In a small time since the launch in Noida, 4DX format has outperformed by far all other formats.”''

Japan

Since opening its first theater in partnership with Korona World Cinemas in April 2013, the theater chain has seen an increase in the installation of 4DX theaters. It operates 4DX theaters nationwide in partnership with large theater chains such as Aeon Cinemas and United Cinemas.

Europe (United Kingdom, France, Spain, Austria, Denmark and Romania)

In 2015 4DX opened in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

with a lot of hype since it was the first one. In 2017, CJ 4DPLEX partnered with France's Pathé and Denmark's Nordisk Film Kino to open its first 4DX theater in Europe. It quickened its expansion in Europe by signing partnerships with Austrian theater operator Hollywood Megaplex in February 2017 and Cineworld in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

China

CJ 4DPLEX started integrating 4DX within the Chinese market in cooperation with its parent company CJ CGV in 2006. In 2013, it signed contracts with UME, a local theater operator in China. In 2014, CJ 4DPLEX made partnerships with Woosang More, WoMai, Beijing Jinbo, and Golden Harvest. In December 2014, CJ 4DPLEX formed a partnership with Wanda Cinema, a Chinese theater operator.

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, the 4DX technology made its commercial debut at

in 2014.

South Africa

In 2015, CJ 4DPLEX and Nu Metro Cinemas entered a partnership to open 5 4DX theaters in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, making its debut in the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n continent. It opened the first 4DX auditorium in December that year with the release of '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' at the V&A Waterfront theater.

Australia

At CinemaCon 2017, 4DX signed a contract with Australian theater operator

to open its first 4DX theater within a year. It opened at the Century City theater in Melbourne, Victoria on 27 October 2017 with the release of '' Thor: Ragnarok''. It was the first time that the company entered Oceania and the Australian continent, and it made the technology available to all six continents.

Box office performance

In August 2019, 4DX reached 2.7 million moviegoers. The top three performing films for 4DX in August were '' Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw'', ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'', and '' Aladdin''. The local films '' The Bravest'' and '' One Piece: Stampede'' performed well in China and Japan. , the top five movie titles of 4DX global box office hits in the first half of 2019 were: # ''Avengers: Endgame'' ($34,705K) # ''Aladdin'' ($24,759K) # ''Aquaman'' ($21,301K) # ''The Lion King'' ($16,841K) # ''Captain Marvel'' ($14,133K) In 2018, the company attracted a cumulative 24 million viewers a year, recording $290 million in box office revenue. In July 2019, the company attracted 3.07 million viewers and $38 million in ticket sales globally.

Variations

4DX VR

The 4DX technology has expanded to virtual-reality, also known as 4DX VR, which utilizes a set of specific 4DX model seats consisting of VR headsets, similar to that of virtual reality amusement rides, and is described to be the "world's first VR theater". First showcased at the AAE 2017 and later IAAPA Attractions Expo 2017, it plays exclusive virtual reality-produced films, short films, as well as games and movie trailers. There are at least six versions of the 4DX VR technology brand: Disk for horizontal rotation, Ride which consists of four-to-eight seats on a 6-axis motion-platform, Racing for presentations focused on the racing genre, Sway and Twist in which seats enable twist and side movements, motion-chair which is a singular 4DX chair consisting of the VR headsets, and Sports for sports-focused presentations with specific bike, snowboard, and kayak designs.

4DX Screen

The 4DX Screen technology (formerly 4DX with ScreenX) combines the multi-screen projection, known as

ScreenX ScreenX is a panoramic film format which presents films with an expanded, dual-sided, 270-degree screens projected on the walls in a theater. First introduced in 2012, it is created by CJ 4DPLEX, a subsidiary of the CJ CGV group which also creat ...

, and the motion-seats in a theater. It was first introduced in 2018 and made its debut in CinemaCon 2018. Both technologies are owned by CJ 4DPLEX.

Awards

* 2014: 4DX won the I3DS (International 3-D and Advanced Imaging Society) "Cinema Innovation of the Year" award. * 2015: 4DX won the Edison Awards, Silver Prize for Media and Visual Communication Entertainment Category. * 2017: 4DX was chosen as one of "The Most Innovative Companies of 2017" for the Live Events Category by the magazine ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

''. * 2018: 4DX and ScreenX won the Edison Awards, Silver Prize for Media and Visual Communication Entertainment Category. * 2018: 4DX won the "Innovation Technology of the Year Award" at Big Cine Expo. * 2019: 4DX and ScreenX won the iResearch Award, Originative Cinema Technology Category. * 2019: 4DX was chosen as one of "The Most Innovative Companies of 2019" for the Live Events Category by ''

''.

Films

Gallery

File:4DXTheaterInVietnam.jpg, 4DX theater in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. File:Anjo Korona Cinema 2016d.jpg, 4DX at a Korona Cinemas theater in Anjō, Japan. File:Centre commercial du Carré de Soie - cinéma - 4DX.JPG, 4DX at the Pathé Carré de Soie in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. File:4D venue.jpg, 4D Venue in

, United States. File:Arquibancadas da sala 4DX do Cinépolis do Shopping Bela Vista de Salvador, BA.jpg, 4DX theater at a shopping mall in Salvador,

References

External links

*
Official FacebookOfficial YouTube
{{CJ Group 2009 introductions Motion picture film formats 3D imaging South Korean inventions Film formats 4D films CJ CGV