# 4D cinema smells
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 3, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538 "2018-05-03T20:50:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/1 "2018-05-03T20:50:05Z")
I’ve seen a few adverts around town for a new 4d cinema screen at the local cinema.
It sounds like its got things like the seats moving when stuff explodes, water splashing when there’s a storm and dry ice machines.
The bit that sounded weird to me was smells, I guess there’s a machine that releases sand smell when you’re in a desert and so on.
Now the question; would the studio contract a perfume company to make smells for their film & put them in a cartridge for the smell machine or would the machine have several generic smells that can be released when appropriate?
Would the smell release programming be done by the studio, 4d equipment manufacturer or the cinema chain itself?
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/2 "2018-05-04T04:36:34Z")
Taking another stab at [Smell-O-Vision and AromaRama](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/smell-o-vision-astrocolor-other-film-industry-inventions-that-proved-to-be-flops-180968295/), eh Hollywood?
Given rising levels of public resistance to obtrusive perfumes etc. in public places, I’d be surprised if this works out any better than it did in 1959.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/3 "2018-05-04T05:30:36Z")
Or this.
> **[Polyester (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester_(film))**
>
> Polyester is a 1981 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk, whose work directly influenced this film, as well as a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s involving divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, foot fetishism, and the religious right.
> Polyester was filmed in Waters' native Baltimore, Mary...
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### Author:  [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/4 "2018-05-04T13:25:26Z")
A while back Disney had similar effects for the “It’s a Bug’s Life” attraction in the Animal Kingdom park - splashing water, the feeling of creepy crawlers under the seat, a mildly noxious odor when the dung beetle lets loose. Cute for a 5-10 minute attraction, but I could see it get very tiresome for a feature length film. Then again, I think the same about 3D by itself.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/5 "2018-05-04T13:33:17Z")
I’m thinking there are some movies that I definitely wouldn’t want to smell. LOL
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/6 "2018-05-04T17:46:43Z")
> [@Delicious](#):
>
> Now the question; would the studio contract a perfume company to make smells for their film & put them in a cartridge for the smell machine or would the machine have several generic smells that can be released when appropriate?
>
> Would the smell release programming be done by the studio, 4d equipment manufacturer or the cinema chain itself?
The providers of the equipment do almost all of the programming of the motion and the 4D effects, with little or no input from the studios. The extent of the theaters’ involvement is generally deciding which of the available effects they want to buy in the first place or activate in the case of any particular show. I believe that in the vast majority of cinema installations (as opposed to theme park rides and other specialty venues) the only 4D effect is motion. They don’t bother with smells, water spray, rat tails (a little thing that brushes against your leg), etc.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/7 "2018-05-04T18:14:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> Or this.
>
> [Polyester (film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester_(film))
I still have my Odorama card from Polyester! It was all fun until the end of the movie when we got to scratch and sniff shit.
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### Author:  [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/8 "2018-05-04T21:34:36Z")
> [@blondebear](#):
>
> I still have my Odorama card from Polyester! It was all fun until the end of the movie when we got to scratch and sniff shit.
Shit (fart) was number 2 on the card, pretty early in the movie. Most of the smells were unpleasant.
1. Roses, 2. Flatulence, 3. Model Airplane Glue, 4. Pizza, 5. Gasoline, 6. Skunk, 7. Natural Gas, 8. New Car Smell, 9. Dirty Shoes, and 10. Air Freshener.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4d-cinema-smells/813538/9 "2018-05-04T21:56:30Z")
Proving once again that Marty DiBergi was ahead of his time.