IMAX Entertainment Co announced that in the six months following the launch of the IMAX Private Theatre Palais (Palais), it has signed agreements for more than 80 committed systems. The agreements follow the June 15 launch of the first TCL-IMAX Palais showroom. Additional showrooms are scheduled to open in the coming months on the Chinese resort island of Hainan, Beijing, London, Los Angeles and New York and Dubai.

The majority of the total systems signed to date comprise agreements with high-end luxury property developers, which represent the first Palais distributors in China. The first installations are taking place now, with the current backlog scheduled to install over the next three years.  In addition to these larger-volume deals, the TCL-IMAX joint venture has also signed multiple additional Palais agreements, including iconic global installations in London and New York.

“We are very encouraged by the strong initial Palais signings to date and the interest that continues to build for IMAX in a home environment among key developers, dealers and high-net-worth individuals,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “We’ve invested in this new line of business over the past few years and will continue to do so, based on the significant interest shown to date. We are encouraged by our results so far and – together with our partner TCL – look forward to the launch of our upcoming showrooms and the broad roll-out of this impressive product.”

“We are pleased to have exceeded our initial signings targets for this important new venture,” added IMAX Chief Business Development Officer Robert D. Lister, who is also Chairman of the TCL-IMAX joint venture.  “We are focused now on continuing to leverage the strong interest we are seeing in China, in particular, and on expanding our target markets, with an aggressive roll-out in the Middle East planned at the start of 2016.”

Speaking of the expansion of IMAX Private Theatre Palais in China market, CEO of TCL-IMAX Entertainment Co., Ltd., Yifeng Hu added: “Our growth in China showcases the potential gap of high-end home entertainment industry in China and great confidence the market has for our product. This month, we just unveiled the second IMAX Private Theatre Palais showroom at Diamond Beach in Sanya, Hainan Island, which is a successful partnership and collaboration between Palais and high-end real estate and tourism industry, and is an important momentum of our expansion strategy in China. We will continue to strengthen our partnership with qualified distributors next year and aim to open a few more showrooms in tier-one cities across China. I believe, with the help of these partners from both China and international markets, IMAX Private Theatre Palais will lead the high-end home theatre industry and create a legendary brand.”

The IMAX Private Theatre “Palais” delivers IMAX’s best-in-class projection and sound technology as part of the very first completely integrated home theatre system from a single holistic IMAX design and source. It for the first time offers the immersive IMAX movie experience to its customers in the comfort of their home, and supports multi-media functions including Blu-ray, high-definition TV, games and Karaoke. Features include sound isolation, acoustics, wall treatments, flooring, lighting, seating, and specialized, high-quality and unique audio-visual content provided by IMAX.

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