IMAX to add new theatre in Hangzhou, China

IMAX has stuck a deal with government-run Zhejiang Xinyuan Cultural Industry Group Co., Ltd to install a new IMAX system in the exhibitor’s new 16-screen multiplex in Hangzhou.

The theatre will be open in late June 2010, in time to screen Aftershock, the first mainstream Chinese film to be digitally remastered in the IMAX format.

There are currently 26 IMAX theatres in China, and the new total of theatres slated to be open in China by 2012 is 50.

Hangzhou is the capital of China’s Zhejian province and is a two-hour drive from Shanghai.

“The IMAX brand has become very popular with moviegoers in China, and we believe it will be an ideal fit for our new complex in Hangzhou,” said Lei Xiangqiong, chairman and president of Xinyuan. “The recent box office results of other IMAX theatres in the country show there is a strong demand for The IMAX Experience and we’re very excited to feed that demand with IMAX’s exciting slate of films, starting with the digitally re-mastered version of the next big anticipated Chinese blockbuster Aftershock.”