Grauman's Chinese Theatre to go IMAX

Assuming the city signs off on all the approvals, the storied venue will be shut down in late May for a major tech overhaul (new screen, sound system and digital projection system). It'll reopen in September. When re-configured, the theater will have nearly 1,000 seats. Actually, it's not supposed to be called Grauman's anymore - Chinese TV maker TCL paid more than $5 million for the naming rights (it's officially the TCL Chinese Theatre). From the LAT:

Imax plans to make the Chinese Theatre one of its main venues for holding premieres of big budget action movies. The new Imax theater will be 94 feet wide and seat 986 people, making it the largest in terms of seating capacity among more than 730 Imax theaters in at least 50 countries. It would be the third-largest Imax theater in North America, only slightly smaller than Imax venues in San Francisco and Lincoln Square in New York City. Although Imax has two dozen theaters in Los Angeles County, including AMC Universal Citywalk, none have been large enough to host premieres, an important source of business for Imax.