Mumbai: Imax Corporation and Lumière Pavilions, a private movie exhibition chain in China, have inked an agreement to install three digital Imax theatre systems in the People’s Republic of China.

Under the terms of the deal, the first system is scheduled to open at the Lumiere Pavilion in the city of Chongqing at the end of 2010. The second system is scheduled to open at the Guangzhou Cultural Centre (Tai Ko Hui) in Guangzhou in August, 2011 and the third system is expected to open at a yet-to-be determined location in 2012. This deal brings the total number of IMAX theatres scheduled to be operating in China by 2012 to 57.

"China is the fastest growing movie exhibition market in the world. We’re very excited about our future in this market, where our network is scheduled to at least double in size over the next couple of years and we’re already exploring the business of releasing Chinese films in the Imax format with the release of Aftershock this month," said Imax CEO Richard L. Gelfond.