200 '4D' Cinemas With 'Smell-O-Vision' To Hit US, UK Next?

'4D' Cinemas With 'Smell-O-Vision' Coming To A Multiplex Near You

So you've just gotten used to 3D cinema. What's next?

4D, of course.

Up to 200 cinemas in the United States are set to be outfitted with 'smell-o-vision', as well as moving seats and other special effects, in an attempt to keep ahead of the developments in home cinemas.

The South Korean company CJ Group hopes that the equipment will boost the cinema industry.

Along with the smells and movement, the cinemas could include 'back ticklers' -- designed to rub your back in a 'realistic' manner, as actors fall into objects.

Strobe lights, smoke, gunpowder effects and smells and water sprays could also be used.

CJ Group hope the system will be used in the future for blockbusters like The Avengers and Men In Black 3, reports the LA Times.

The paper says the experience is already "wowing" audiences in South Korea and Mexico, and even though similar systems have been present in US theme parks for decades, it has never been available for mainstream releases.

"Theatres need to find new ways to bring people back to the multiplex and away from their couches,: said Theodore Kim, chief operating officer for the Los Angeles lab of CJ 4DPlex, to the LA Times.

If it works in the States, it's likely to end up here too.

It costs around $2m to put the 4D system in just one theatre, meaning the rollout might be slower than advances like 3D and HD.

But the bosses remain confident it could find mainstream adoption by providing an experience you can't get at home - at least not without a Blue Peter-style sense of ingenuity and a friend willing to shake your seat.

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