NORMAL -- Move over 3-D, here comes D-Box.

Instead of delivering movie thrills straight between the eyes, D-Box lifts and separates, so to speak -- detaching the moviegoer from his or her seat via three levels of pitching, rolling and heaving.

Moreover, the moviegoer also has control over the intensity of that action, via a control knob that can reduce the movement, or, if it all becomes too much, shut it off.

Beginning next weekend with the opening of "Super 8" at the Starplex Stadium 14 in Normal, the Twin Cities becomes only the second location in Illinois to feature the motion seating technology (the other is in suburban Chicago's Rosemont).

Currently, only 80 cinemas nationwide have installed the seating, according to Traci Hoey, marketing director for Starplex, the Texas-based chain with 236 screens around the country.

Though it's been available for more than two years, theaters have been slow to adopt the complex technology, which requires the installation of special seating engineered to move, vibrate and deliver physical sensations in sync with the action onscreen.

At the Starplex, says Hoey, two rows of regular seats in one auditorium were replaced with 23 of the mechanized D-Box seats.