Since the beginning of cinema, exhibitors have been dreaming up ways to attract crowds. One director once added buzzers in the seats to shock his audience, but that was back in the 1950s when laws were looser.

3D movies came out shortly after that and were a huge craze at the time, and even experienced a recent renaissance, thanks to James Cameron's 2009 release, Avatar.

That was the same year that 4DX was launched.

Based in Hollywood, 4DX is a product of CJ Entertainment, the same South Korean company that helped to popularize K-pop to international audiences.

Everything is top-secret here including the software the company uses to create this new movie-going experience.

“Vibration? No,” says Reny Nazarian.

“It’s like subtle?” asks the company's marketing director.

“Yeah, very subtle,” answers Nazarian.

Reny Nazarian is an effects editor and she’s worked on blockbusters like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Aquaman.

But editing effects for 4DX is very different than editing a movie. Since we have five senses and movies typically only engage two of them, Nazarian’s job is to engage those three other senses.

“Some of them are vibrations that you feel it on the chair and the side airs that come from the side, the face air, the strobes that we have and the leg ticklers that you will feel in between your feet,” explains Nazarian.

She edits the effects while Michael Martinez edits the motion. 4DX releases three to five movies per month and they can take as long as two weeks to complete.

“So it’s one thing to go watch a movie,” says Martinez. “But it’s quite another to be immersed in the movie, which is one of our goals for this film. To make you feel like you’re actually flying in the action.”

About 24 million people worldwide watched movies in 4DX in 2018, but there’s only one 4DX theatre in Los Angeles at L.A. Live.

Martinez's favorite project so far has been Solo: A Star Wars Story, but he’s most excited about revisiting classic titles like Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

It’s a fun ride. Just remember to hold onto your popcorn.