TORONTO — Cineplex Entertainment has signed an agreement to have at least 175 3-D systems in movie theatres across the country by December 2009.
  
The agreement announced Tuesday with RealD of Beverly Hills, Calif., adds to 41 RealD systems already in place at Cineplex locations.

The dollar value of the expanded agreement was not disclosed Tuesday, but the companies said it is dependent on conversion to digital projection by Toronto-headquartered Cineplex, the largest movie exhibitor in Canada with 1,337 screens at 132 theatres.

"There is an exciting slate of 3-D films scheduled for release during the next 18 months that includes Jeffrey Katzenberg's `Monsters vs. Aliens' in addition to about a dozen other 3-D films," Ellis Jacob, CEO of Toronto-headquartered Cineplex, said in a statement.

"This agreement with allow us to provide even more guests across the country with the most advanced digital 3-D movie-going experience possible."

RealD claims 90 per cent of the worldwide digital 3-D cinema market, and Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, was quoted in Tuesday's release as prophesying that "2009 is truly shaping up to be the year of 3-D."