SHANGHAI, June 16 -- IMAX Corporation, a Canadian company known for its giant-screen technology, and CMC Capital Partners, China's leading media and entertainment investment fund, launched the China Film Investment Fund on Tuesday.

The fund, with a start-up capital of about 50 million U.S. dollars, will invest in 10 Chinese films in the first stage, according to a joint statement.

The fund aims to improve the film quality and promote Chinese films in the global market, said Li Ruigang, the CMC chairman.

The two sides will set up a committee to choose films for investment. The films they invest in will hit the cinemas within the IMAX global network.

China's movie industry ushered in an era of rapid development following reforms in 1993 and 2002, with measures including lifting government control of film distribution, giving cinema chains freedom to set prices, and consolidating film production agencies into bigger, more effective cooperatives.

Its average box office revenue has sustained 35-percent growth in recent years. Last year, films generated a revenue of almost 30 billion yuan, 32 times that of 2002.