MUMBAI: With the reopening of ImaginAsian Theatre as Big Cinemas Manhattan in Midtown East - New York, Big Cinemas has strengthened its global footprint.

After undergoing major renovations over the last few months, including aesthetic, audio and visual enhancements, the theatre, in its new form, now features brand new and comfortable recliner seating, remodeled restrooms, expanded lobby with an updated concession stand, LCD screens and box-office as well as BARCO 2k digital projection.

The theatre strives to bring the best of movie-going experience and customer service to its patrons. It will host several premier and special shows in keeping with its aim to provide a distinguished programming plan to its patrons.

New York has a large and affluent Asian Indian population with over 300,000 Indians having a strong affinity towards Indian movies and the theatre will now provide a destination for a luxurious cinematic experience.

Says Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun, "New York, with its fast-growing and prosperous population of Indians, is the epicenter of growth for us and we see considerable opportunity here in the exhibition infrastructure space starting with the redevelopment of Big Cinemas Manhattan. The theatre has undergone some remarkable changes and we are proud to present it as such a distinguished movie destination with best of amenities, services and film programming."

Similarly to its strategy in India, Big Cinemas is setting up standalone properties and cinemas in malls in the US and existing properties are being taken over, renovated and operated by the company while taking advantage of their already considerable infrastructure and brand value.

Big Cinemas has aggregated a network of over 188 screens in 27 theaters across East Coast, Midwest and West Coast that now regularly screen Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi movie features, in addition to Hollywood.