A STATE of the art IMAX cinema will be open for business in Ipswich in just ten days, it emerged today.

Work to convert the largest screen at the Cineworld Multiplex is almost complete.

And the huge screen will be open to the public on October 26, when customers will have the chance to watch the new Bond film Skyfall.

Preview screenings will take place a day earlier.

Tickets for such performances cost more than those in normal screens and many blockbusters are now filmed with a view to be shown in an IMAX cinema.

The opening of the IMAX – which allows films to be projected on to a giant curved screen – is part of a project to refurbish the cinema, which first opened in 1998.

Piers Button, Cineworld Ipswich general manager, added: “We couldn’t be more excited to be bringing this amazing cinema experience to our customers. We can’t wait to open this screen in style with the latest Bond film, Skyfall.”

The opening of the IMAX comes ahead of the project to build a nine-screen multiplex in the Buttermarket.

Last month the borough council’s planning and development committee unanimously approved the conversion of most of the former department store into a cinema, which will be operated by Vue.

There will also be new restaurants and cafes developed on the upper floor of the mall as part of the application.

Work on the project is expected to start early next year and the new cinema should be open for business by the summer of 2014.