France's Thomson on Thursday unveiled a deal with Hollywood studios to accelerate the deployment of digital cinema systems in North America. Thomson will install at least 15,000 digitally equipped screens in the United States and Canada over the next 10 years, generating some $1.5 billion in revenue.

"It's a deal with seven studios that make over 75 percent of the American Box Office. It opens Thomson many opportunities for its three divisions," said Chief Financial Officer Julian Waldron.

Thomson said in a statement that its services division had reached digital cinema usage agreements with DreamWorks , Sony Pictures , Universal Pictures and Warner Bros .

In addition, Thomson said it was in late-stage negotiations with Twentieth Century Fox , New Line Cinema and the Weinstein Company and expects these studios to be part of the initial deployment.

DreamWorks, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros have already agreed to use digital projection systems from Thomson's technicolour digital cinema on 5,000 screens in the United States and Canada as early as the first quarter of 2006.