The D-BOX seats are meant to draw in patrons, not scare them away with high prices. “What we are doing here is having one more feature” at a multiplex that already boasts digital projectors in every auditorium and six auditoriums equipped for 3-D.

Exhibitors and movie studios have added new technologies to attract patrons since the advent of “talkies.” Some have been gimmicks, like “Smell-O-Vision.” Others, like recently revived 3-D, have become semi-permanent or permanent features.

“It is a gimmick if it only works with a couple of films,” said Phil Lelyveld of the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center. Of D-BOX seats, Lelyveld asks, “The question is, will there be a movement for more than a few of these?”

Since it started animating theater seats a year ago, D-BOX Technologies has installed seats in 23 theaters in the United States and Canada. Its studio partners include Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal.