THX Ltd., an American company renowned for its rigid certification of visual and audio standards for cinemas and consumer electronics, certified an on-demand cinema for the first time — a Chinese one.
Yuker, the newly certified cinema in Zhongshan Guangdong province, was given the title on Nov 9 and thus can claim to be the best-equipped on-demand cinema in the country.
THX defines standards and specifications for cinema acoustics, sound system design and image quality, delivering cinematic experiences true to the original filmmaker's intent and ensuring audiences are fully immersed in the thrill of the onscreen action.
The cinema was opened in May by iQiyi — China's major streaming media platform and equivalent to Netflix — as its own offline cinema chain. Users are free to select a viewing time and content from its digital movie library.
IQiyi plans to build more offline cinemas in the future. There are two Yuker cinemas so far, with the other located in Shanghai.
The launch of Yuker has made iQiyi the first major Chinese online entertainment platform to tap into the on-demand movie theater market. The box office revenue generated by these movie theaters will be included in China's official box office figures.
