"Wicker" Gets One-Night 4DX Event After Fans Demand It

Black Bear will screen “Wicker” in 4DX for one night on Oct. 28, answering a fan campaign that began when the film’s trailer spread online. The independent studio announced the event Wednesday, five days after the romantic fantasy opens in standard theaters on Oct. 23. IndieWire reported that the studio and 4DX expect roughly 60 U.S. locations to take part.

David Spitz, Black Bear’s head of U.S. theatrical distribution, said moviegoers kept asking to see the film in the format after the trailer landed. He described the audience as one that might not normally be drawn to a film like this. Online, fans joked about what the seats might do during a movie about a woman and her handmade husband. Some of those jokes involved props that no one at the studio has promised.

The format itself is more mechanical. 4DX seats move in sync with the picture and trigger 21 environmental effects, including wind, water, vibration, snow, lightning and scents. Theaters have mostly reserved it for action releases. Paul Kim, chief operating officer of CJ 4DPLEX, which operates the format, called “Wicker” a bold, imaginative film that shows what 4DX can add to theatrical storytelling.

The filmmakers took some convincing. Co-director Alex Huston Fischer said he and co-director Eleanor Wilson first assumed the idea was a joke, and he now calls the result spectacular. Wilson said the comedy lands harder when the seat rocks viewers and the subtler effects pull them deeper into the story’s strange world.

“Wicker” adapts Ursula Wills’ short story “The Wicker Husband.” Olivia Colman plays a fisherwoman who hires the village basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage, to weave her a spouse. Alexander Skarsgård plays the wicker husband, whose appeal sparks jealousy and chaos once the neighbors notice. Elizabeth Debicki, Marli Siu and Nabhaan Rizwan round out the cast. Dev Patel was first attached to the role before Skarsgård replaced him. The film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival before Black Bear acquired it.