Do you think "smell-o-vision" will ever become popular?

I hope not.

Seriously, no thanks.

The idea stinks.

They do that in some of the Disney theme parks, don’t they? I’d be concerned about allergies – most smelly candles and air fresheners aggravate my sinuses.

So then we could smell the bullshit spewing out the mouths of politicians as well as hear it?
Uh-huh, no thanks.

Previous attempts at Smell-O-Vision (Scent Of Mystery) and Odor-rama (Polyester) were fitfully successful, but only worked as novelties. By the end of the show, the entire theater stank.
Polyester, which was a John Waters film, gave out scratch-and-sniff cards. As you might expect with Waters films with Divine, number 6 smelled like number 2.
Scent of Mystery actually pumped the smell into the theater. They had trouble clearing the smells out, and the final mix wasn’t pleasant.
At the theme park Disney’s California Adventure, on the ride Soarin’, (which is like an IMAX film where you simulate flying on a glider), they add a very subtle smell to different parts of the ride. You can smell the sea, the orange groves, and the cut grass. This worked, because they had to simulate wind as well, so you had a constant, created breeze to deliver the scents, plus the smells weren’t overwhelming. Thankfully, they didn’t try to add the gliders flying over the sulfur mines, or a geyser.

They have tried it. The main problem was getting one smell out before another came in. There may be a better system invented. Picture a huge whoosh at the end of each smell or maybe a sucking noise if they had holes in the floor to suck the odors out. Think of bathrooms you’ve been in that have a strong odor you’d rather not smell. Or lingering scent of mold in a spooky house that the rosebush can’t quite displace. I think I’ll wait another century.

Conceptually, the problem is that to really work you need to be able to emit some pretty awful smells. Rotting flesh, poo, rancid BO, skunk, chemicals – all pretty awful.

No thank you. It doesn’t take much to make me gag. I’d prefer not to be assaulted by foul odors when I’m watching a movie.
Can you imagine if they had Smell-O-Vision during the Jackass movies? Omg!

The ultimate goal of communication media is to approximate reality. Just as we went for silent B&W films to talkies, then to color, I am sure the sense of smell will be added. That just might get rid of some of the more odious reality TV shows in the process. Everybody would be able to recognize that they stink.

What did the futurist writing Star Trek envision? A holodeck where you are fully immersed in a media experience, with full vision in 3D, sound, smell and kinesthesia. I’d say that’s a reasonable guess at where media arts and science are heading.

The company my partner used to work for actually made a film like this. It actually included smells (a farting donkey, among other things) as well as 3d imaging and motion. I can’t find the whole film on Youtube but here’s a “making-of” documentary about it; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXRepPA4lHw

If the technology was done right, the smells would be extremely natural. For example, if a scene in The Hobbit takes place in the forest, only a faint scent of grass or flowers would be present. Kind of strange to hear so many people on here disliking that idea. But I do get the worry of allergies. And the main problem is how expesive it would be to get all the extracts of certain foods and plants.

@rockfan I think the concern is borne of the film industry’s penchant to constantly jump the shark.