Chinese developed film projection system gains traction in cinema industry

CINITY LED, a China-developed high-end cinema system, performed strong in the market in 2025, with a significant growth in audience numbers and new recognition from the global film industry.

A cinema in Sichuan Province's Chengdu is drawing moviegoers from out of town to make a trip to the city just to enjoy movies on China's first curved CINITY LED screen.

"The screen is enormous, with very clear images. The colors are incredibly vibrant, and every detail, compared with other cinemas, looks far more vivid," said Luo Yantong, a moviegoer.

"I came from Zigong City just to have an experience of this theater. The colors on the screen are very bright, plus it's a curved screen, so the viewing experience is absolutely fantastic," said Qiu Qihui, another viewer.

The CINITY LED system provides a viewing experience with smoother, clearer images and higher brightness compared with traditional systems. When watching a movie in CINITY LED theaters, many viewers say they noticed more details that were unseen on traditional screens.

"The LED viewing experience really brings out the true colors and details in the images, so all the details filmmakers want to show the audience can be authentically conveyed to them," said Bian Wei, general manager of CINITY.

CINITY theaters achieved remarkable box office results during this year's Spring Festival period, with multiple data hitting new highs. Between Chinese New Year's Eve and the seventh day of the New Year, ticket sales at CINITY theaters rose by 82.6 percent, with attendance up by 80.2 percent, and the average number of viewers per screening increasing by 73.3 percent. CINITY theaters now boost an average of 107 viewers per screening, more than doubling the attendance at regular theaters.

These impressive figures indicate that the Chinese audiences are recognizing and favoring the domestic film projection system, highlighting China's ongoing innovations in the film technology sector.

Traditional film projection systems typically offer 2K resolution and 24 frames per second, but with the widespread application of digital technology, audience expectations for higher-quality visuals have grown. CINITY's film system, launched in August 2019, combines seven cutting-edge film projection technologies: 4K, 3D, high brightness, high frame rates, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut, and immersive sound.

In 2023, CINITY introduced the CINITY LED system, a groundbreaking 4K, 120-frame LED cinema projection system, the first of its kind in the world.

"LED technology is revolutionary compared with traditional projection systems. Traditional films rely on a beam of light projected onto a screen, whereas LED lights each individual pixel, significantly improving light efficiency. The uniformity is excellent, and the contrast ratio has hit a quite high level," Bian said.

During this year's Spring Festival, the CINITY LED CFL-10, featuring a 10-meter LED screen, earned the latest CTP1.4.1 certification from the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI), becoming the world's first LED cinema projection system to receive this certification.

It is also the only high dynamic range LED projection system globally recognized by the organization, giving China a leading position in setting a new global standard for professional LED systems.

CINITY LED is also titled to its own film mastering process. The company opened its Los Angeles mastering center in January, making CINITY LED the only brand in the world that presents exclusive LED mastering version movies.

"Since its inception, cinema technology has adhered to a global standard, allowing films produced in one country to be shown on equipment in any other countries. However, in the course of technological development, special high-format versions of films have emerged. What is the significance here? First of all, you need to have the recognition of the film production side. Their approval of making this version of yours means they see it as something unique or better that offers the most authentic movie-watching experience. It is also more appealing to audiences and expands a film's influence and reach," Bian said.

Chinese developed film projection system gains traction in cinema industry

China's expanding ties with the Global South have pushed trade growth far beyond the global average despite the tariff pressure from the U.S., according to experts.

"Whilst the Trump tariffs ultimately led to a significant drop-off in Chinese exports to the United States and vice versa, the trading relationships across much of the rest of the world continue to grow, and China's trading relationships across the Belt and Road Initiative countries, as well as with the Global South, more broadly speaking, has grown at rates far greater than global trade growth as a whole. And we see that evidenced by the latest data. When we break that down, we see that has been underpinned by the developments in high-technology products in particular, whether it's EVs, whether it's even in semiconductors, as well as photovoltaic panels, etc.," said Dr. Warwick Powell, an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology, in a TV interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Thursday.

"And you've got to look at the places where the growth is taking place. Africa, I think, is a very interesting case in point, because the kinds of things that China has been exporting and expanding in terms of its exports are all about African economic development -- its machinery, its energy systems, its technology, and this really goes to delivering on China's broader strategic ambition as an emerging great power to be an enabling great power, supporting the development of its partners around the world," he added.

Qian Jun, executive dean of International School of Finance at Fudan University, attributed the trade growth to Chinese firms' endeavor to tap into key regions like ASEAN, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

"The main increase of export comes from, as we have discussed, these new areas: The ASEAN economy -- southeast Asia remains the most important trading partner -- and also Latin America, the Middle East, and these [other such] new regions. So, the exporters of the Chinese companies are also very good at adjusting their destinies, their strategies, how to market their goods and services, so that the reliance on the U.S., for example, has gone down a lot," Qian said.

China's trade momentum increasingly powered by Global South: experts