4DX Expands ‘Wicker’ to One-Week Run Thanks to Social Media-Driven Demand

4DX, the motion-seat premium format usually associated with blockbusters like “Twisters” and “F1,” is about to take a very kinky turn. After selling out its one-day-only screening of Black Bear’s fantasy romance “Wicker,” parent company CJ 4DPLEX has announced that screen times will be added at 4DX locations nationwide through the coming week.

Insiders at Black Bear and CJ told TheWrap that the initial one-day engagement was conceived after romance fans caught a glimpse of the trailer showing Olivia Colman as an outcast fisherwoman who calls upon the one member of her village who has not shunned her, a basket weaver (Peter Dinklage), to make her a husband out of willow.

With a steamy, bed-breaking sex scene becoming its buzziest moment coming out of its Sundance premiere, “Wicker” got the attention of online cinephiles and influencers who suggested, perhaps half-jokingly, that this would be a film worth seeing in the seat-rocking, mist-spraying, scent-laden 4DX.

When CJ’s social media team responded coyly to one such demand, the excitement from fans was so overwhelming that talks began between the company and Black Bear to bring the film to 4DX locations in 21 states and Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28. Now, after those screenings sold out, “Wicker” will extend its 4DX engagement through Nov. 4.

CJ worked with “Wicker” directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson on the motion and sensory effects that moviegoers will experience in 4DX, though no word yet if the scent of fish will be added to the screenings.

Like the Fisherwoman and the Wicker Husband, Black Bear and 4DX are proving to be a perfect couple. Black Bear, which has long established itself as a production and financing company with theatrical distribution in the U.K., entered the American distribution space last year with the Sydney Sweeney boxing film “Christy,” which tanked at the box office with just $1.95 million grossed.

In the months that followed, Black Bear has been in search of that first significant theatrical hit to establish itself in the indie marketplace. “Wicker” is shaping up to be that film, as it opened to $5.7 million from 1,471 locations this past weekend after Black Bear acquired the film out of Sundance for $2.5 million.

Meanwhile, CJ is coming off of record business for 4DX and sister format ScreenX thanks to the historic run of Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and is looking to “Avengers: Doomsday,” which will not have Imax support, to boost its profile amongst moviegoers. CJ has also signed a deal with AMC to add 40 new 4DX auditoriums through 2027.

Halloween weekend will be a busy one for 4DX, as the expanded “Wicker” run will share the format’s screens with Warner Bros./DC Studios’ “Clayface” and Fathom/Laika’s “Wildwood.” Check your local theaters for showtimes.

The post 4DX Expands ‘Wicker’ to One-Week Run Thanks to Social Media-Driven Demand appeared first on TheWrap.