4D movies the next big thing

4D movies, where seats will shake, bright lights will flash and the smell of gunpowder will fill the room, may be the next phenomenon to come to US theatres, The Celebrity Caf'e writes.

South Korean company CJ Group has had a laboratory in Hollywood since 2009 that shows off its 4DX system. Now, the group is close to finalising a deal with a nationwide theatre chain that would lead to 200 4D theatres opening in the next five years.

The first 4D theatres would open this year in major cities like New York and Los Angeles.

According to the LA Times, the 4D experience is wowing fans in South Korea, Thailand and Mexico, where CJ Group has 29 specialty theatres that regularly screen big Hollywood titles such as Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Prometheus.

CJ Group executives say its 4D venues already draw sell-out crowds from Seoul to Mexico City, and they predict that US audiences are ready to shell out an extra $8 for the new movie experience.

"Theatres need to find new ways to bring people back to the multiplex and away from their couches, and this is one way of doing that," said Theodore Kim, COO for the Los Angeles lab of CJ 4DPlex, operator of the specialty theatres.