A movie gimmick is an unusual idea intended to enhance the viewing experience of a film, and thus increase box office sales. Many of these have been used for just a few films, proving unpopular with either audiences or cinema owners. Smell-o-vision, which involved releasing relevant odors during the film, only appeared in the film Scent of Mystery as audiences did not enjoy the experience. Sensurround, a method for enhancing sound pioneered for the 1974 film Earthquake , was abandoned as it sometimes resulted in damage to movie theatres. [1] Other 'gimmicks' have gradually become more common in cinema, as technology has improved. Examples include 3-D film and the use of split screen, which was originally achieved through the use of dual projectors in cinemas.
Horror film director William Castle had a particular reputation for gimmicks, being termed 'King of the Gimmicks' by John Waters. [2] For the 1959 film The Tingler , which concerns a creature growing at the base of the spine that can only be killed by screaming, some cinemas installed vibrating devices in the seats which were activated at random during one of the film's scenes, with a voice encouraging the audience to "Scream - scream for your lives." [3] For the 1960 film 13 Ghosts , the onscreen ghosts could either be seen or hidden by the viewer through the use of different coloured cellophane. [4]
3-D and widescreen films have been omitted. For 3-D films, see List of 3D films pre-2005 and List of 3D films. For widescreen films, see Early widescreen feature filmography, Fox Grandeur, CinemaScope, VistaVision, Cinerama, Todd-AO, and IMAX.
Film | Year | Gimmick |
---|---|---|
The Power of Love | 1922 | In the now-lost 3D version of the film, the audience could choose between two different endings by only viewing the film through the left or right eye of their 3D glasses. |
Napoleon | 1927 | Polyvision triptych |
Macabre | 1958 | $1,000 life insurance policies given to audience members against "death by fright" |
My World Dies Screaming (Terror In the Haunted House) | 1958 | Psychorama subliminal images |
Behind the Great Wall | 1959 | AromaRama |
A Date With Death | 1959 | Psychorama subliminal images |
Horrors of the Black Museum | 1959 | HypnoVista prologue |
House on Haunted Hill | 1959 | "Emergo" flying skeleton |
The Tingler | 1959 | Percepto! seat vibrators |
13 Ghosts | 1960 | Illusion-o cellophane filters |
The Hypnotic Eye | 1960 | HypnoMagic audience participation |
Psycho | 1960 | "No late admissions" policy |
Scent of Mystery | 1960 | Smell-o-vision |
Homicidal | 1961 | "Fright break" prior to climax and "Coward's Corner" money-back guarantee |
Mr. Sardonicus | 1961 | At the end of the film, the audience would vote in a 'Punishment Poll' to decide the main antagonist's fate by choosing between two alternate endings. [lower-alpha 1] |
Witchcraft | 1964 | "Witch deflector": small badge to grip during moments of terror |
I Saw What You Did | 1965 | advertised an audience seat belt "shock section" |
Chelsea Girls | 1966 | Two-projector split screen |
Mark of the Devil | 1970 | "Rated V for Violence", sick bags distributed to audience |
Wicked, Wicked | 1973 | Duo-Vision split-screen |
Earthquake | 1974 | Sensurround |
Midway | 1976 | Sensurround |
Snuff | 1976 | marketed as an actual snuff film |
Rollercoaster | 1977 | Sensurround |
Battlestar Galactica (Saga of a Star World) | 1978 | Sensurround |
Polyester | 1981 | Odorama scratch and sniff cards |
Basket Case | 1982 | "free surgical masks - to keep the blood off your face" |
Clue | 1985 | One of three endings would be shown depending on the theater it was screened in. |
I'm Your Man | 1992 | At various points in the film, audiences were given 10 seconds to vote on three different outcomes using joysticks mounted on their seat's armrests. The winning outcome would be the one shown. |
Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie | 1995 | |
Ride For Your Life | 1998 | |
Rugrats Go Wild | 2003 | Odorama scratch and sniff cards |
Fast & Furious | 2009 | D-Box Technologies' motorized, vibrating seats |
Kurt Josef Wagle og legenden om Fjordheksa | 2010 | scratch and sniff cards |
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World | 2011 | Aroma-Scope scratch and sniff cards |
100 Years | 2115 | Postponed release date reflects the 100 years it takes for a bottle of Louis XIII Cognac to be produced. |
Letter-boxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting video-graphic image has mattes of empty space above and below it; these mattes are part of each frame of the video signal.
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than 4:3 (1.33:1).
VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format that was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954.
70 mm film is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is 65 mm (2.6 in) wide. For projection, the original 65 mm film is printed on 70 mm (2.8 in) film. The additional 5 mm contains the four magnetic stripes, holding six tracks of stereophonic sound. Although later 70 mm prints use digital sound encoding, the vast majority of existing and surviving 70 mm prints pre-date this technology.
A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as a movie house, picture house, picture theater or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio and steep stadium seating, with the 1.43:1 ratio format being available only in few selected locations.
The National Science and Media Museum, located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum Group in the UK. The museum has seven floors of galleries with permanent exhibitions focusing on photography, television, animation, videogaming, the Internet and the scientific principles behind light and colour. It also hosts temporary exhibitions and maintains a collection of 3.5 million pieces in its research facility.
Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146-degrees of arc. Subtending refers to the pathways of the projected images from the synchronized projectors onto the curved screen overlapping each other at one point. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporation. It was the first of several novel processes introduced during the 1950s when the movie industry was reacting to competition from television. Cinerama was presented to the public as a theatrical event, with reserved seating and printed programs, and audience members often dressed in their best attire for the evening.
3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney-themed venues. 3D films became increasingly successful throughout the 2000s, peaking with the success of 3D presentations of Avatar in December 2009, after which 3D films again decreased in popularity. Certain directors have also taken more experimental approaches to 3D filmmaking, most notably celebrated auteur Jean-Luc Godard in his film Goodbye to Language.
Smell-O-Vision is a system that released odor during the projection of a film so that the viewer could "smell" what was happening in the movie. Created by Hans Laube, the technique made its only appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery, produced by Mike Todd Jr., son of film producer Mike Todd. The process injected 30 odors into a movie theater's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.
Jaws 3-D is a 1983 American horror film directed by Joe Alves and starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale and Louis Gossett Jr. It is the second sequel to Steven Spielberg's Jaws and the third installment in the Jaws franchise. The film follows the Brody children from the previous films to SeaWorld, a Florida marine park with underwater tunnels and lagoons. As the park prepares for opening, a young great white shark infiltrates the park from the sea, seemingly attacking and killing the park's employees. Once the shark is captured, it becomes apparent that a second, much larger shark also entered the park and was the real culprit.
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
Super Panavision 70 is the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983. It has since been replaced by Panavision System 65.
4D film is a presentation system combining motion pictures with synchronized physical effects that occur in the theater. Effects simulated in 4D films include, but are not limited to, motion, vibration, scent, rain, mist, bubbles, fog, smoke, wind, temperature changes, and strobe lights. Seats in 4D venues vibrate and move during these multisensory presentations.
RealD 3D is a digital stereoscopic projection technology made and sold by RealD. It is currently the most widely used technology for watching 3D films in theaters. Worldwide, RealD 3D is installed in more than 26,500 auditoriums by approximately 1,200 exhibitors in 72 countries as of June 2015.
Digital 3D is a non-specific 3D standard in which films, television shows, and video games are presented and shot in digital 3D technology or later processed in digital post-production to add a 3D effect.
Mr. Sardonicus is a 1961 horror film produced and directed by William Castle. It tells the story of Sardonicus, a man whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father's grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket. Castle cited the film in his memoir as one of his favorites to produce.
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of its width to its height. It is expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, width:height. Common aspect ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.40:1 in cinematography, 4:3 and 16:9 in television, and 3:2 in still photography.
The Scotiabank Theatre Toronto is a major movie theatre at the RioCan Hall in the Entertainment District of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada at Richmond and John Street owned by Cineplex Entertainment for the building and the lands owned by RioCan. Opened in 1999, the venue screens theatrical films throughout the year, but is best known as one of the major venues for the annual Toronto International Film Festival alongside the nearby TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Dolby Cinema is a premium cinema created by Dolby Laboratories that combines Dolby proprietary technologies such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as other signature entrance and intrinsic design features. The technology competes with IMAX and other premium large formats such as Cinemark XD and Regal's RPX.