AMC Entertainment Takes up to 18 More Imax Screens

TORONTO - AMC Entertainment is returning to the well at Imax.

our editor recommends

Imax Unveils Three More Theater Deals in China

Bona Film Group Acquires Imax Screen in China

The two exhibitors have expanded an existing joint revenue sharing agreement to allow AMC to install eight new theaters across the U.S. market, with an option for another ten super-sized screens.

The eight new screens will likely land in existing and untapped Imax markets like Charlotte, North Carolina, Monmouth, New Jersey, Dearborn, Michigan, Niles and Crestwood, Illionois, and San Francisco, Redondo Beach and Anaheim in California.

The first three theaters should be open by the end of the year.

AMC, which has just been acquired by the Wanda Group, will also convert two existing AMC Imax theaters from a sale to a joint revenue sharing structure.

The latest pact between AMC and Imax takes the U.S. circuit’s commitment to 138 giant screen theaters, with the potential to expand to 148.

AMC currently has 125 Imax theaters in operation.

"The Imax footprint still has runway for growth in the U.S. and we are pleased to expand into these new markets with our biggest and long-time partner, AMC," Imax CEO Richard Gelfond said in a statement Monday.

Even as Imax continues to diversify into the international market, especially in China and Russia, the giant screen exhibitor has been busily expanding its U.S. footprint, most recently with a ten-theater joint revenue sharing deal with Frank Theaters.