If buying Chinese shares was not already sufficiently entertaining, Imax is about to increase the thrill factor still further — by listing shares in its China unit on Hong Kong’s stock market.

Although the issue is small — up to a maximum $317m if the overallotment option is exercised — it should attract interest. China’s entertainment industry is representative of the shift in the economy from investment to consumption, and buying experiences over things. Last year, China’s box office became the first outside the US to surpass $4bn, with revenues rising nearly two-fifths year on year, says researcher IHS Technology.

Imax China looks well placed to benefit. The company makes money from equipment sales, revenue sharing agreements and systems maintenance. Its partners operate 251 cinemas in greater China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) with a further 214 to be installed up to 2021.

There is more room to grow. Imax and similar non-conventional screening technologies account for less than 5 per cent of a broader cinema market that is still underpenetrated. China has only 1.8 silver screens per 100,000 people, compared with 14.9 in the US; lower-tier cities with fewer screens are experiencing the most rapid box office growth. The company also plans to build a facility to convert Chinese-language films to the 3D Imax format. Revenue sharing arrangements for such movies are typically more generous than for Hollywood flicks, which accounted for 22 out 28 films screened by Imax in China last year.

The proposed issue of new and existing shares could give the company a market value as high as $1.6bn. On a price to earnings ratio of 30 times 2016 earnings — a premium to the parent’s 26 times — Imax China would need to more than double its 2014 earnings to justify the top end of the price range. It may well do that. But buyers will have to be confident that Chinese cinema goers continue to put high value on the novelty of an Imax ticket.