Major Overhaul of Edwards 21 Brings 4DX Movies to Boise

The battle to have the newest, coolest movie theater in the Treasure Valley is heating up! A $200,000 remodel of the Edwards theater located at the Boise Spectrum is bringing a new type of movie experience to the Treasure Valley.

Over the past year, there's been some exciting breakthroughs at movie theaters around our area. As Downtown Caldwell continued their downtown revitalization mission, it welcomed a new Luxe Reel Theatre not far from Indian Creek Plaza in June 2018. Unlike the existing Reel branded theaters in the Treasure Valley, the 11 screen theater shows first run movies and was the first to debut luxury rocking and reclining seats.  A similar theater is in the works for a pad not far from the new T-Sheets headquarters on Eagle Road and is expected to open sometime later this year.

Not to be out done, The Village Cinemas started to renovate their existing theaters to accommodate the addition of reclining seats. Four of the remodeled theaters were completed by November and all 15 theaters are expected to be completed early this spring.  We're also waiting to hear more about Cinema West's (The Village Cinemas' parent company) plans to build a new boutique theater in The Village targeted toward an older audience.

Over at the Edwards 21 & Imax on Overland, their most notable improvement in 2018 was the addition of assigned seating similar to their biggest competitor at The Village. They'll be the next to see renovations! According to the Idaho Statesman, two of their existing theaters will be remodeled to include 4DX technology.  It takes the way a movie goer experiences some of the year's biggest films like Captain Marvel to the next level by moving and shaking their seats as well as incorporating flashing lights, puffs of smoke, scented vapors, wind, rain or bubbles into the movie in real time. You'll also be wearing 3D glasses to make what you're seeing on the screen come to life.

Regal, Edward's parent company, has several theaters offering 4DX screenings of Captain Marvel in other areas of the country and it looks like you're going to shell out at least $24 for the augmented reality experience. They plan to offer 4DX screenings of DC's Shazam! and Disney's Dumbo in the 4DX theaters that are already up and running.

The local theater couldn't offer a statement to the Statesman about the project, so we're not sure when the remodeled theaters will be completed here in the Treasure Valley.

It's been a LONG time since I experienced a 4D movie.  Back in the late 90s, Sea World had an attraction called Pirates 4D that I went to as a little girl. I'll never forget comping out of that theater completely soaked and kind of grossed out by the fact that we'd been covered in "bird droppings." It would be cool to see how far the technology has come since then!