Ever since surround setups and subwoofers became part of the theatrical experience audiences have loved room-shaking sound. Why stop there? Theatre technology exists that adds extra dimensions to your movie experience, and we have it here at Cinemark!
There are extra-large screen presentations like XD and extra-extra-large versions such as ScreenX, but D-BOX takes a different approach to put you right into the middle of a movie. Unique seats and an array of speakers create an overwhelming envelope of sound and motion that turns a movie into a physical experience.
Here's how D-BOX works its magic.
Sound and Motion
D-BOX seats are engineered with two big extra features: A set of speakers that turns sound into a visceral part of a movie, and motion actuators that can provide enough movement that action-packed movies actually feel like rides.
Both the movement and speaker systems are calibrated to provide sound and motion that are precisely timed with action in the movie. This isn't a general algorithm that moves the seat based on a vague analysis of the movie — it is a detailed, programmed routine of perfectly synchronized movements and vibrations that translates what's happening on screen to your seat.
A Customizable Experience
Because we know that not everyone wants the same level of physical and aural intensity, D-BOX seats have a user-controllable response level. With four levels of control, you can dial in a fairly gentle ride — or turn the controls all the way up for an eye-widening experience.
No matter how intense you'd like the sense of motion to be, however, D-BOX offers one other great benefit to audiences: All D-BOX seats are placed in premium locations in theatres.
D-BOX Origins
Unlike many theatre technologies, D-BOX actually has roots in home technology. In 1998, the Montreal-based company began by making subwoofers for home theatre use. When they learned that customers were buying multiple woofers to create the illusion of motion for their seats at home, the company realized that spine-shaking sound could redefine the theatrical experience.
The first D-BOX seats, which were also aimed at the home market, were introduced in 2001. The company soon started to look at the theatrical market. In 2009, Universal looked to D-BOX to program motion for FAST & FURIOUS. That was the real starting gun for the company's race into theatres.
One neat thing about D-BOX is that the seats can be programmed in such a way that they're useful for more than movies. NASA and Formula One, for example, are two organizations that use D-BOX in training systems.
The Differences Between D-BOX and 4D Technologies
While it may be tempting to classify D-BOX as a 4D experience, they are anything but. 4D options usually use mist, smoke, scents and other effects to create a sense of immersion — but they can also distract from the movie experience. While those are fun ideas, you might not want water mist on your clothes or other scents competing with your popcorn. D-BOX uses a unique combination of movements, vibrations and textures that have been hand-encoded by haptic designers to enhance the content on-screen and further immerse you into the movie.
New D-BOX Movies in Theatres This Season
Wolf Man
From Blumhouse and visionary writer-director Leigh Whannell, the creators of the chilling modern monster tale The Invisible Man, comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare: Wolf Man. Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Emmy winner Julia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma). But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without. Read more about WOLF MAN here.
Flight Risk
A U.S. marshal boards a small plane to transfer a government witness to New York. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions start to rise as not everyone on the flight is who they appear to be.
Presence
A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone. Read more about PRESENCE here.
Dog Man
Part dog, part man, all hero. From DreamWorks Animation—creators of the beloved blockbuster franchises Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and The Boss Baby—comes the canine-crime-fighting film adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s New York Times bestselling literary phenomenon: Dog Man. When a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses the two of them together and Dog Man is born. Dog Man is sworn to protect and serve—and fetch, sit and roll over. As Dog Man embraces his new identity and strives to impress his Chief (Lil Rel Howery, Get Out, Free Guy), he must stop the pretty evil plots of feline supervillain Petey the Cat (Pete Davidson; Saturday Night Live, The King of Staten Island). Petey’s latest plan is to clone himself, creating the kitten Lil Petey, to double his ability to do crime stuff. Things get complicated, though, when Lil Petey forges an unexpected bond with Dog Man. When Lil Petey falls into the clutches of a common enemy, Dog Man and Petey reluctantly join forces in an action-packed race against time to rescue the young kitten. In the process, they discover the power of family (and kittens!) to bring even the most hostile foes together. Read more about DOG MAN here.
Find the D-BOX theatres near you!
All images courtesy of D-BOX.