Can movies have smell?

[Jet2]

Today the look, sound and feel of a movie is very impressive already. But if we want to make the watching experience more completed, I think we need to get the taste and smell come to the cinema as well.

Any updates on this aspect anyone?

[Buffy]

An old idea that went nowhere, I think for obvious reasons. Check out Smell-O-Vision. That article mentions the "Odorama" version of John Walter's film "Polyester" which I had the displeasure of experiencing: it was scratch and sniff, and no one wanted to scratch when Devine got to his famous scene of consuming...

Suffers from the same issues as 3-D: if its used at all its over-used and for all the wrong reasons.

Sniff,
Buffy

[Jet2]

I thought in the digital age we may have more high-tech solution....

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Jet2

I thought in the digital age we may have more high-tech solution....

Well sure, if you'd read that whole page you would have seen:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia, Smell-O-Vision

In 2006, NTT Communications, a Japanese telecom giant, developed a new way to display odors during the release of The New World, with Colin Farrell. During 7 key moments throughout the film, scents were emitted by an internet server that was linked to the reel of film, effectively downloading the scent. ... The scents used were supposed to evoke from the audience the emotions that were trying to be expressed in the film

But high-technology cannot make people want something they don't want!

You know you are a geek when you like tech because its, well, tech,
Buffy

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Jet2

I thought in the digital age we may have more high-tech solution....

We do!

I visited Epcot Center earlier this year and rode a ride called "Soarin'". On this ride you are raised in the air on seated-hangliders in front of a MASSIVE screen. As you fly around the many different ecosystems of California, they blow fans at you that make it feel as if you are actually flying through the landscape. The kicker is that a device built into the harness in front of you ejects small puffs of smell as you encounter different environments. Flying over the conifer forests, you get a whif of pine, very faint, but very cool. The same thing happens when flying over the orange groves or the open sea. Very cool ride!

I think we will see more of this in the future as the technology becomes cheaper and more accessible.

[Jet2]

How should we call this experience?
Smell-O-Vision? Or a new kind of 'Virtual Reality'?...