What would it be like to watch a movie scene on top of a cliff and feel the wind blow through your hair as if you were there? Or to smell the roses as a character in a film walks through a flower garden?
Moviegoers in Volusia County will soon have a chance to find out.
Epic Theatres of West Volusia, located in Deltona, will debut new technology that simulates reality with some pretty souped-up special effects in November, according to a news release issued Sept. 12 and published by several cinema industry websites, including CelluloidJunkie.com.
Epic Theatres of West Volusia in Deltona.
And they’ll be the first in the country to do so.
The groundbreaking theater system is created by Lumma, an entertainment company with headquarters in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Weegee DeMarsh, vice president of Epic Theatres, said in a recent phone interview with The News-Journal.
Epic Theatres’ corporate headquarters are in Deltona.
“The Lumma company is thrilled to be introducing our first 4D E-Motion in the U.S. with Joe DeMarsh (Epic vice president and Weegee’s brother) and the Epic Theatre’s team at one of their premier theaters in Deltona,” said Rolando Rodriguez, a partner with Lumma 4D E-Motion, in the news release.
What are the effects of a 4D movie experience?
The technology simulates wind, water, motion, air shots and scents synchronized with the on-screen action, according to Weegee DeMarsh.
For example, moviegoers will sit in a “shaker seat” which vibrates, tilts and turns every which way, almost like a ride-on motorcycle at an arcade, but “not so extreme as to upset people,” Weegee DeMarsh said. Scent, wind and water misting are all achieved via a mechanism installed on the back of the seat in front of a viewer.
Epic will start by equipping just one auditorium with a 40-person capacity in the Deltona theater with 4D E-Motion. Ticket prices for the premium experience will be more experience, but the company has not yet decided on a final amount, Weegee DeMarsh said.
The hope is to create a cinematic experience viewers love
“This cutting-edge technology will take moviegoing to the next level, and we’re proud to bring it to our Central Florida audiences,” Joe DeMarsh said in the release. “With blockbuster titles like’Wicked: Part Two’ and’Avatar: Fire and Ash,’ there’s no better way to launch this immersive cinematic experience.”
The brothers found out about Lumma’s 4D E-Motion product at a trade show and were impressed.
“We’ve been eyeing this technology for awhile now,” Weegee DeMarsh said.
There are other theaters in the country, such as Regal and Cinemark, that have similar immersive systems but are not exactly the same, he added.
Movie theaters are in the blood of the DeMarsh family
Movie theaters have been a DeMarsh family business for four generations, Weegee DeMarsh said. The family’s first theater opened in Pennsylvania in 1947. In the 1950s, the family also began operating drive-in theaters. The DeMarshes established Epic Theatres in 2003. Over the decades, the family expanded its operations, with Epic Theatres opening more locations across Florida as well as North Carolina. They now own a total of 12 theaters, including one in Palm Coast which offers an “XTS” auditorium which includes laser projection, a wall-to-wall screen with shaker seats to simulate motion.
The DeMarshes’ hometown theater in Deltona also features their proprietary “XL” option with a 65- to 70-foot curved screen and Dolby sound.
“It’s almost like IMAX,” said Weegee DeMarsh.
As November nears, Epic will announce a more specific launch date for 4D E-Motion. The company will gauge audience reaction to consider expanding the technology to more auditoriums in the Deltona location as well as theater locations.
“The hope,” Weegee DeMarsh said, “is it becomes one of the preferred options here (in Deltona).”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Epic Theatres in Deltona will be 1st to get immersive 4D movie tech
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
