15 Terrible Ideas and Off-the-Mark Predictions About The Future Of Movies
![15 Terrible Ideas and Off-the-Mark Predictions About The Future Of Movies](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/1/846521_320x180.jpg)
On January 10th, 1888, Louis Le Prince registered the first British patent for a camera that was able to capture motion through a series of still prints. Since then, “film” as it would eventually be called was taken in so many different directions for over a century. With those directions would come various technologies in an attempt to improve or enhance the experience of watching pretty pictures move in front of our faces along with predictions about where the newly growing film industry would go.
Many of those would be totally, completely, and utterly wrong. Or stupid. Or stupidly wrong. Some of these “enhancements” include a way to improve the audio-visual experience by adding scent into the mix. Others were predictions that this over-the-air, flash-in-the-pan invention called “television” would never quite take off like the talkies did.
Here is a list of predictions and tech invented for the future of movies that have become debunked fodder for fun look-backs like this.
TV
![CRACKED.COM Terrible ideas about the future of movies 20th century FOX'S co-founder didn't see TV as competition. Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night, said Darryl F. Zanuck in 1946.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/9/846529.jpg)
Sources: PCWorld, The Wall Street Journal
Smell-O-Vision
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies The invention of smell-o-vision. In 1960, Mike Todd Jr. figured that releasing scents in sync to the action on the screen would improve scenes set in restaurants, perfume shops, and such. Needless to say, the gimmick stunk. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/9/846539.jpg)
Sources: Time, Smithsonian Magazine, The Royal Film Society/YouTube
Percepto
![CRACKED.COM Terrible ideas about the future of movies Percepto! The movie will rub you! 1959's The Tingler, starring Vincent Price, allowed moviegoers to feel the characters' fear by activating a vibrating device in their seats. The expense and lack of follow-up movies that used the gimmick made it a passing fad.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/7/846537.jpg)
Prequels
![GRACKED.COM Лак S PAZETTE REWORD SPECIAL FEED Beaked les Fathered ROCH ISMUTH Terrible ideas about the future of movies The obsession with prequels. With the Fantastic Beast series tanking, along with movies like Solo, Prometheus, and other critical and box office disappointments, maybe it's time for storytellers to look forward or away from previously made films, rather than go backwards.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/5/846535.jpg)
Source: The New York Post
HypnoMagic
![The Movie That Introduces HYPNOMAGIC SPELLBOUND...YOU GAZE INTO THE DEPTHS OF EVIL as beauty is hypnotized THE THRILL YOU SEE AND FEEL into a thing of torture and terror... the fate of those who dare to stare... at the EYE! Terrible ideas about the future of movies HypnoMagic HypnoMagic was an attempt to literally hypnotize audiences, introduced in 1960's The Hypnotic Eye. Since you haven't gone to a hypnosis movie ever, you already know that it failed. GRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/8/846528.jpg)
Sources: The Royal Ocean Film Society/YouTube, Cinema Sojourns
Polyvision
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies Polyvision What's cooler than one big screen? How about three? That was the philosophy behind Polyvision, which shot films in a really wide aspect ratio to project them on three screens set side by side. It was used for 1927's Napoleon, and not much else. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/3/846533.jpg)
Sources: The Panoptic, Smithsonian Magazine
Interfilm
![JACK RICHARD LESLIE Terrible ideas about the future of movies Interactive choose Your own Adventure Movies Interfilm provided movies in which the audience could pick between different scenes and endings. It didn't take off, as every theater needed to be retrofitted with $70,000 worth of equipment. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/6/846536.jpg)
Sources: The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine
The Grandeur Process
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies The Grandeur Process was compensating for something. This 1920s gimmick used 70mm film (typically, film is 35mm) to ensure a giant projected picture. The problem was that theaters needed to be large enough for a 42-foot-wide, 20 foot-tall-screen (and sell loads of tickets to be profitable). CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/0/846530.jpg)
Source: Smithsonian Magazine, The American Widescreen Museum
Edison and Talkies
![CRACKED.COM Terrible ideas about the future of movies Thomas Edison thought talkies would fail. No, I don't think the talking motion picture will ever be successful in the United States. Americans prefer silent drama... The American people do not want it, and will not welcome it. - Thomas Edison, March 4, 1927](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/7/846527.jpg)
Source: Classic Movie Hub Blog
Edible Cinema
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies Movies you can eat. Edible Cinema in the U.K. gives moviegoers a tray of mystery boxes containing bite-sized foods to consume during particular parts of a film. Spoiler alert: It's never popcorn. 3. 2. 1. colx CINE COLETS CINEMA CINEMA 6. color CINEMA J EMA 8. COLATA CINEMA CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/4/846534.jpg)
Sources: Edible Cinema, Motion Picture Association
Oculus' CINEVR
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies oculus Rift's CINEVR. The CINEVR service creates a virtual reality movie theater experience. Aside from the cost of VR home tech and neck pain when watching long movies, there are complaints of bugs and film selection. Honestly, why not just go to an actual theater? CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/1/846531.jpg)
Source: Oculus
Astrocolor
![CRACKED.COM Terrible ideas about the future of movies Astrocolor: The plane movie nightmare. In the 1960s, American Airlines projected movies onto a series of 17-inch screens hanging from luggage racks. The system worked in such a way that back seat passengers saw a scene nearly 5 minutes after the front seat passengers did. ENGLES MARTIN SASTEN TAK MI - people Fen Dallison](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/2/846532.jpg)
Source: Smithsonian Magazine, KUOW Public Radio
4D Cinema
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies 4D cinema assaults the senses. Simnoa has 200 4D theaters in the United States that feature scents, back ticklers, strobe lights, smoke, and water sprays to match the action on the screen. However, the expense and the fact that it feels like a theme park attraction turns off viewers CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/5/846525.jpg)
Source: Motion Picture Association
James Cameron
![CRACKED.COM Terrible ideas about the future of movies critics keep betting against James cameron's high budgets. Every time James Cameron has directed the most expensive movie ever made, most critics and film pundits predicted that he couldn't make a profit - and he's consistently proved them wrong.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/6/846526.jpg)
3D Movies
![Terrible ideas about the future of movies The rise/fall/rise/fall pattern of 3D Movies. Every generation since the 1950s has had a cinematic push and mild boom to 3D, with little lasting success. While nowadays it is common for blockbusters to have a 3D print, it doesn't significantly move ticket sales. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/4/846524.jpg)
Source: Collider