IMAX Enters Agreement With Toho Cinemas Ltd For 10 Additional Screens In Japan

IMAX Corporation IMAX and Toho Cinemas Ltd., Japan's highest-grossing exhibition company and a subsidiary of Toho Co. Ltd., announced an agreement for 10 additional IMAX® theatres. The deal brings to 11 Toho Cinemas' IMAX footprint, all of which are among the highest-grossing sites in the country. Japan currently ranks among the top 10 highest-grossing IMAX territories globally, with per-screen averages of approximately $1.2 million, mirroring those of leading markets such as China. IMAX Logo Toho Cinemas now becomes one of IMAX's largest partners in Japan. The exhibitor's first IMAX theatre opened in April at the Toho Cinemas Shinjuku multiplex in downtown Tokyo. Since then, the site was Japan's highest-grossing IMAX theatre for Furious 7, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection "F", Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road and Jurassic World, which marked IMAX's highest-grossing opening weekend ever in Japan with a record-setting $1 million. "Today's agreement with Toho marks our largest signing ever in the country and a tipping point in our Japanese expansion efforts," said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. "Toho's first IMAX site is off to an exceptional start and in just six months has become Japan's highest-grossing IMAX theatre. We look forward to future collaborations with Toho on both the exhibition and film fronts to support our mutual growth in this important market." "We are pleased to significantly expand our IMAX commitment to satisfy the strong demand we're seeing among Japanese moviegoers for IMAX, as evidenced by the performance of our first theatre, which has surpassed our expectations," said Mr. Kazuhiko Seta, President, Toho Cinemas. "IMAX is an anchor attraction that we believe will serve as a catalyst for our future growth and we look forward to bringing this differentiated brand and entertainment experience to more of our patrons." IMAX and Toho Cinemas' parent company, Toho Co. Ltd., recently signed their first film agreement for the IMAX release of Attack on Titan Part One and Attack on Titan Part Two. The first installment was released Aug. 1 to 19 IMAX theatres in Japan and additional IMAX theatres across Europe and Asia Pacific.