IMAX set for Chinese expansion
July 29, 2013
By Chris Forrester
Giant cinema screen operator IMAX is set to expand dramatically. It has signed a 45-130 new screen deal with cinema exhibitors Wanda (in China) and AMC, a 20-picture deal with Warner Bros, a recent 5 picture deal with Paramount and has just declared its best-ever box office quarter-year in IMAX history.
During the quarter-year IMAX opened 29 new theatres, and signed agreements for another 34 screens of which 25 were for all-new IMAX theatres. During the whole of last year it signed just 142 new screens. This year, to date it has already signed up between 140-225 (depending on construction dates) “and we still have five months left to go in the year,” said CEO Richard Gelfond, on an analysts call.