Monday, July 15, 2013

IMAX Backlog in China and South Korea Grows Again

IMAX's (NYSE: IMAX  ) march to world domination continues.

After announcing expansions of its theater network in first Russia, then Mexico, then Indonesia earlier this year, the theater-tech company announced Monday that it is partnering with CJ CGV Holdings to add 35 new IMAX theaters in China and South Korea. Five of these new theater locations, the Korean ones, had been previously optioned, but are now confirmed. The 30 Chinese locations are officially "new" news.

Already an IMAX partner, and one that IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond calls "a world-class exhibitor and marketer of the IMAX brand," CJ CGV now has agreements in place to open a total of 95 such IMAX theaters in Southeast Asia -- 20 in Korea, and 75 in China.

Today's deal, however, is the largest single announced deal IMAX has yet signed with CJ CGV. It increases the number of IMAX theaters in "backlog" for construction in China to 117, in addition to the 133 theaters already operational in the Middle Kingdom. It also, incidentally, helped send IMAX shares rocketing more than 5.8% in Monday trading, to close at $26.42.

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