Shanghai Cinema Group announced Tuesday plans to invest 200 million yuan to build 10 multi-plex cinemas in China in cooperation with Warner Brothers International Theaters of the United States.

At least two theaters will be 51 percent owned by the US film studio, including a 2,200-seat theater in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, and another in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.

Industry sources here said the Warner Brothers move means foreign investment will be granted a controlling right in joint-venture cinemas in China, where the annual box office is only some US$100 million.

China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television promised foreign investors earlier this year to allow them to hold controlling rights of joint venture cinemas in seven major cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Nanjing and Wuhan.

"We hope to shoot more films in China but we need to expand the film market by building more theaters in the country first," said Millard Ochs, president of Warner Brothers International Theaters.

Earlier this July, Time Warner cooperated with Shanghai Yongle Co., a member of Shanghai Cinema Group, to launch a luxurious multi-plex cinema in Shanghai, but with a share of only 49 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)