BIG Cinemas, India's largest movie hall chain, has reopened ImaginAsian Theatre of Manhattan New York as Big Cinemas Manhattan, a company statement said here Monday.

Part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, the theatre will host several premieres and special shows for its patrons. New York has an affluent Indian origin population of over 300, 000 having a strong affinity towards Indian films.

BIG Cinemas Manhattan has undergone major renovation including aesthetic and audio-visual enhancements, comfortable seating, and other state-of-the-art facilities.

"New York, with its fast-growing and prosperous population of Indians, is the epicentre of growth for us. We see considerable opportunity here in the exhibition infrastructure space, starting with the redevelopment of BIG Cinemas Manhattan, " said Anil Arjun, CEO of Reliance MediaWorks.

Presently, BIG Cinemas has aggregated network of over 188 screens in 27 theatres on the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast that now regularly screen Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi movies, besides Hollywood films.

BIG Cinemas accounts for 30-35 percent of Hindi films box office collections and over 75 percent of Tamil and Telugu box office collections from the US.

Awarded the "Entertainment Retailer of the Year" at the India Retail Forum 2009, the BIG Cinemas has over 515 screens in India, US, Malaysia, Nepal and the Netherlands.