IMAX will grow its number of screens in Australia from four to nine by 2027, at an average cost of $1.5 million each, on a bet that those still venturing out to cinemas want bigger screens and more lifelike imagery and sound than they can get at home.

The NYSE-listed IMAX, which makes cameras and software to shoot movies like Oppenheimer and Furiosa in its high-resolution format and builds laser projectors and screens more than four times larger than the average cinema to show them, said it would partner in four new cinemas with EVT, the ASX-listed entertainment business controlled by Financial Review Rich Lister Alan Rydge.