Portugal's Socorama-Castello Lopes Cinemas exhibition chain plans to nearly double its screen count across the territory by the end of next year.

The company, a joint venture between local exhibition pioneer Castello Lopes and four-year-old holding company JRP, aims to go from the 67 screens in 15 complexes it owned at the end of 2002 to a total 120 screens by the end of 2004.

This year will see 36 new screens open to the tune of an overall Euros 8.5m investment for 2003. The most recent opens today: a two-screen complex in Leiria, the city's first, with stadium seating for 230.

Expansion efforts are focused on the outskirts of Portugal's urban centres and updating technology and capacity in existing complexes. Family entertainment centres are also planned in and around the company's multiplexes.

New cinemas will open this year in Gondomar-Porto (12 screens), Santarem (6 screens), Viana do Castelo (4 screens) and Ponta Delgada in the Azores Islands (4 screens). Others recent openings have been in Funchal, Guia, Cascais and Guimaraes.