SHANGHAI -- Giant-screen theater company Imax is continuing its expansion into China, inking deals for three theaters to open by 2005.
"This is the fastest growth we have ever experienced in a new market," chair-CEO Richard Gelfond said.
The Canadian exhib opened its first two screens on the Chinese mainland in Shanghai in 2001. Another two are due to open by the end of this year -- another in Shanghai, one in Harbin. With another screen slated for a Shanghai theme park within two years and the further three just inked, Imax's China total will reach eight by 2005.
The latest deals will take Imax to Beijing's China Film Museum, set to open in 2005 to coincide with the centennial celebrations for the local film industry. The other two screens are set for Dongguan in southern Guangdong Province and will open next year.
The sudden expansion comes after a good first year for the two Shanghai screens, which have maintained occupancy rates over 60%, partly due to the success of locally shot large-format pic "China: The Panda Adventure."
With Imax's Asia Pacific headquarters located in Shanghai, China is at the forefront of developments in the region. Gelfond estimates that the mainland could become Imax's second-biggest market within five years.
(Tamsen Tillson in Toronto contributed to this report.)
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