When the big blockbuster movie of the summer ‘F1: The Movie‘ opened a couple weeks ago, fans flocked to IMAX theatres. On such a huge screen the film is visually stunning, and a completely immersive experience. It’s literally larger than life. With summer superhero movies now hitting the big screen, ‘F1: The Movie‘ is approaching the end of its theatrical run.
As of July 13th, worldwide total ticket sales for ‘F1: The Movie‘ reached $393 million, so the movie isn’t out of gas just yet.
But for those who’ve already seen it in IMAX, it’s time to go back to the theatre to experience ‘F1: The Movie‘ in D-Box. A unique motion picture experience, D-Box simulates the feeling of being in a race car right from the comfort of a movie theatre seat. It combines powerful subwoofers built into the seats to generate the roar of an engine, plus physical actuators that move the seat left and right in sync with the screen action, allowing viewers to feel what Sonny Hayes is feeling in his APX GP car on screen. If IMAX is immersive, D-Box is on another level altogether.
In a way, D-Box is very similar to the ‘Days of Thunder‘ motion simulator ride that existed at Paramount Canada’s Wonderland until 1998. ‘Days of Thunder‘ wasn’t quite a roller coaster, but instead was advertised as a 4D Movie experience which used motion simulation to give riders the sensation of being in a race car. Riders were strapped to a seat, much like being in a roller coaster, which pitched up to create the sense of acceleration, left and right to mimic corners, and angled down to give the feel of braking, or even crashing.
Motion simulators and race cars are a great fit. In fact, the first film to utilize D-Box motion technology was the 2009 movie ‘Fast & Furious’. That collaboration with Universal Pictures was a huge success, and helped the expansion of D-Box to more than 100 theatres in Canada. Not to be outdone, the upcoming release of ‘Fast X: Part 2‘ will not only include a D-Box version, but also an actual Fast & Furious roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.
Universal revealed some details about its in-the-works ‘Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift‘ roller coaster, which will reach a top speed of 115 km/h, a speed that Dom Toretto would be proud of.
Riders will line up in a waiting area that distinctly resembles the garage that Dom and his crew use to wrench on their rides. The actual ride ‘vehicles’ are facsimiles of the black 1969 Dodge Charger seen in several of the Fast franchise films.
The cars have a full 360 degrees of rotation allowing for groundbreaking movement during the 1.25 km long track. When completed, it will be one of the largest and fastest roller coasters in California.
Immersion and excitement in the movie experience.
Yup. I vaguely remember the Days of Thunder 4D movie experience at the local amusement park.
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But this new D-Box thingy is really good too. Amazing what can be done with subwoofers.
I haven’t tried D-Box yet due to the price when you’re taking a family to the theatre, but we got many of the aftershocks from it above us during Superman that I went “Whoa.”
It’s a gimmick, and probably not worth the cost for a family night at the movies (especially when popcorn and a soda is $20) but for ‘F1: The Movie’ I just had to splurge. It will never be in a D-Box theatre again, so I wanted to enjoy the FULL experience.