Hang onto your hats . . . and the popcorn

Moving chairs, weather effects featured as Cineplex premieres a 4DX auditorium in Toronto

Hang onto your popcorn — and steer clear of hot drinks.

Though you don’t normally go to the movies to get rained or snowed on, Cineplex Entertainment is betting customers will pay extra for the privilege this summer, when the theatre giant introduces 4DX immersive technology at its Yonge-Dundas location.

4DX incorporates a jolt on every level, from water streams and air blasts to lightning and familiar scents, along with chairs that pivot and swerve in sync with the action on the screen.

“It’s like you’re in the movie,” Cineplex spokesperson Sarah Van Lange said Tuesday.

“It makes the movie-going experience truly immersive.”

Though the ticket price is not yet public, it is expected to be higher than the most expensive of its current premium movie-viewing offerings, the D-BOX UltraAVX, which is $23.99 in Toronto.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, which was Cineplex’s most successful year, premium movie experiences accounted for 46.8 per cent of total box office revenues. That averaged out to 39 per cent for the full year, which is more than double the box office revenues some of its peers generated in the U.S. last year, she said.

“Canadians, more than Americans, love premium movie experiences,” said Van Lange.

For example, 80 per cent of the advance tickets Cineplex sold last year for Star Wars: The Force Awakens were for these elevated movie-watching platforms.

The exact launch date and first movie to be shown in 4DX have not yet been determined as the auditorium undergoes a massive overhaul to incorporate the new technology from South Korean firm CJ 4DPLEX.

But it will no doubt be a blockbuster as it was at the recent launch in New York City of Batman V Superman. The 4DX technology is already at more than 230 movie screens across Europe and Asia. The new Toronto location marks the first in Canada and third in North America, including Los Angeles.

“You want to keep upgrading and enhancing your offerings because the movie industry has to stay ahead of whatever home theatre offers,” said Canaccord Genuity analyst Aravinda Galappatthige.

“When you upgrade, you get better attendance,” he noted.

He said 4DX is not for everyone, but it can’t help but generate more curiosity at the box office, where customers have a range of choices including IMAX, UltraAVX, 3D, DBOX and VIP seating. The Yonge-Dundas 4DX auditorium will feature specially-designed motion chairs and environmental effects such as wind, mist, bubbles, snow and scent working in synchronicity with the action on the big screen.

“Each 4DX auditorium incorporates motion-based seating synchronized with over 20 different effects and optimized by a team of skilled editors, maximizing the feeling of immersion within the movie,” Byung Hwan Choi, chief executive of CJ 4DPLEX, said in a statement.

“Audiences across Asia, Europe and the United States have loved the 4DX experience and we are proud to be working with Cineplex Entertainment to continue our international expansion and into Canada for the first time.”

The seats are much like those at a theme park that vibrate, tickle, roll and tilt back and forth and move up and down