Some of the cities that will see the new development include Tianjin, Nanning, Wuhan, Harbin, Dalian, Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai and Zhengzhou. Under the agreement, Wanda will finance the cinemas, while Warner Bros. will provide technical support and full-time operational and management services.

The agreement is the result of newly effective regulatory changes permitting foreign cinema operators to hold a 75% stake in Chinese cinemas in certain cities, including , Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan and Nanjing. Previously China had set a 49% limit on foreign ownership following entry into the World Trade Organization.

''As China continues to deepen the reform of its media industry, we anticipate more deals of this nature,'' says Wallace Walker, a principal in the Shanghai office of Los Angeles-based O'Melveny & Myers LLP, which represented Warner Bros. International Cinemas in the joint venture negotiations. "(Such) reforms will increase the opportunities for investors who have been eyeing China's rising urban incomes and changing lifestyles, and who recognize the huge potential of the leisure and entertainment market.''