How “Avatar: Fire and Ash” pushed creative boundaries and set new financial benchmarks with its ULTRA 4DX special format
James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” has dominated the 2025 global holiday box office since its debut on December 19. In South Korea, the film surpassed 400,000 pre-sale tickets and topped the domestic box office, selling approximately 1.75 million tickets in its opening week alone. Since then, the “Avatar” series’ expanded universe and breathtaking scale are continuing to ignite audience excitement.
“The actors were able to act through their characters as real people, and we applied the cinema layer later to make the amazing world of Pandora feel authentic,” director Cameron explained, discussing the production process. “It delivers an immersive experience that can only be truly appreciated in theaters.”
The unprecedented ticket sales validate Cameron’s claim. According to the Korea Box Office Information System (KOBIS), as of December 23, special-format screenings for “Avatar: Fire and Ash” generated approximately 6.92 million USD, capturing an astonishing 47% of the total box office gross. Most notably, CGV’s flagship ULTRA 4DX format — which combines the panoramic SCREENX with immersive 4DX technology — has emerged as the epicenter of “experiential viewing,” packing theaters even during late-night slots.
The Experience Begins the Moment Viewers Step Into the Theater
The core of the “Avatar” series is defined by one reigning concept: “Experience.” From sweeping landscapes and vibrant ecosystems to the epic clash between the Na’vi and humans, every element is carefully designed to stimulate the senses, enabling audiences to transcend the limits of “passive viewing.”
This is where the impact of CGV’s premium theater formats comes into play, with the ULTRA 4DX auditorium standing out as the ultimate cinematic experience. ULTRA 4DX theaters blend the magic of SCREENX’s triple-screen, 270-degree panoramic format with the multi-sensory, immersive effects of 4DX. The film’s visuals expand beyond the traditional screen and onto the side walls, while physical effects like motion, wind, and heat add tactile realism, pulling viewers director into the cinematic world.
The opening scene of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” immediately envelops the audience in the world of Pandora, introducing them to the breathtaking landscape that completely fills the panoramic screen. Lush forests, massive floating rocks, and creatures soaring across the sky blur the line between film and reality, drawing in audiences while simultaneously transforming the act of “viewing” into “experiencing.”
Elevating the Narrative Without Breaking the Spell
As the characters race across vast landscapes, the motion seats move in concert with their strides and the terrain beneath them. The synchronized wind effects emulate a fresh breeze, inviting audiences to sprint alongside the Na’vi through the forests of Pandora.
4DX’s true potential is unleashed during battle sequences, where blasts of heat mirror erupting flames and water sprays convey the dynamism of underwater combat. When Jake takes flight atop a Toruk, the surge of speed is so visceral that it creates the sensation of flying right alongside him.
Crucially, these immersive elements never overpower the narrative. Each effect is carefully calibrated to match the action on-screen, amplifying the emotional impact without breaking the story’s flow. This balance is the format’s defining strength: the technology serves the story rather than stealing the spotlight.
SCREENX: Enlarging the World of the Film
The immersive journey begins with SCREENX, the world’s first multi-projection cinema system from CJ 4DPLEX. By extending the film’s visuals beyond the front screen onto the side walls, SCREENX widens the audience’s field of view to a panoramic 270 degrees, drawing them deeper into the film. Born from Korean innovation, the format has rapidly established itself as a global benchmark for immersive cinema.
By the end of 2025, SCREENX expanded to 471 locations worldwide, bringing CJ 4DPLEX’s total premium screen count to 1,241, including 4DX. But the growth doesn’t stop there. Hollywood studios are increasingly developing films with SCREENX in mind from the production stage, signaling a shift in how immersive content is conceived.
Blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “F1® The Movie,” for example, were crafted to maximize the SCREENX experience from the earliest stages of production. “Avatar: Fire and Ash” stands as the culmination of these efforts, showcasing the format’s full potential.
Driven by this momentum, SCREENX surpassed 100 million USD in global box office revenue for the first time in November 2025 and is poised to shatter all-time records with the release of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
4DX: Setting the Gold Standard for Immersive Cinema
4DX was the world’s first technology to commercialize the multi-sensory cinema experience, and today, it dominates the global 4D market, firmly establishing itself as the global standard for immersive cinema.
Most notably, “Avatar: The Way of Water” set an all-time-high record, generating 88 million USD globally from 4DX screens alone. And the format’s appeal extends beyond standard blockbusters, proving its box office performance across diverse genres ranging from high-speed racing films to family animation. This versatility is fueling a broader industry-wide shift, moving audiences from passive “viewing” to active “experiencing.”
Such success is driving global expansion. By the end of 2025, 4DX was operating in nearly 770 locations worldwide, significantly broadening access to immersive cinema. Behind this growth is a robust in-house production system based at the company’s headquarters in South Korea. Led by a team of dedicated 4DX producers, CJ 4DPLEX produced 171 titles in 2025 alone, spanning Hollywood blockbusters, local releases, and original content.
No longer just an exhibition format, 4DX now stands as a comprehensive immersive technology, setting the global benchmark for how immersive films are produced and how they’re experienced.
Expanding the Future of Immersion With AI
Building on its immersive expertise honed from SCREENX and 4DX, CJ 4DPLEX is now expanding into AI-driven content production. At the center of this push is its in-house platform, VANTA VFX, which leverages generative AI to elevate production quality and efficiency across SCREENX, 4DX and visual effects workflows.
The platform derives its name from “Vantablack,” an ultra-dark material known for its infinite depth. It symbolizes CJ 4DPLEX’s vision of “absolute immersion,” creating an experience in which audiences are completely absorbed into the story. Through this AI-driven evolution, the company aims to shatter the boundaries of traditional production and redefine the possibilities of immersive storytelling.
Following the launch of its 2025 integrated CG/VFX studio in Sangam, Seoul, CJ 4DPLEX is significantly scaling production capabilities for both global and Korean titles. The strategy focuses on seamlessly integrating immersive formats with production technology, optimizing the entire content pipeline from early concept to final delivery.
There’s a clear reason why “Avatar: Fire and Ash” sustains its immersive grip on audiences throughout its 197-minute runtime. The technology functions seamlessly beneath the surface, enhancing the narrative without ever distracting from it. Even after the lights come up, the sensation of Pandora lingers.
Ultimately, a standard screen can’t capture the full essence of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” A premium immersive format is needed for the completely sensory experience — where the cinematic world and reality blur into one. For viewers seeking to experience Cameron’s vision in its most vivid and tangible form, the answer is clear.
Having redefined the standard for immersion, CJ 4DPLEX is bringing the future of cinema closer to viewers — one scene at a time.
