A year and a half after first unveiling it at CES, a new cinema in Tokyo is the first customer for Sharp's monster 108-inch LCD display.

The Piccadilly cinema, which opens on Saturday, has one of the screens in its third floor lobby and will be using it to preview upcoming movies.

The screen is the largest LCD available from any manufacturer and is only possible because Sharp has recently opened a new plant in Japan that can handle sheets of glass large enough to make the screen. And for that reason a larger screen isn't likely anytime soon as no LCD-maker has concrete plans to invest in an even more advanced factory that would use larger sheets of glass.

Because of the screen's position it's a little difficult to truly appreciate its actual size because its impossible to get close to. The screen appeared a lot larger when debuted at CES because it was easy to see that it's taller than a person.

The full high-definition screen is complemented by 50 other LCD panels around the complex. Several 65-inch panels sit above the ticketing desk and show the latest movie times and schedules while smaller 52-inch panels are located above the food counter to provide changing promotions of different items.

With the debut of the screen at the Piccadilly, Sharp is launching the panel on the commercial market as a build-to-order product. It's aimed at corporate users in the public information, entertainment and broadcasting industries and costs YEN 11 million, that's around US$103,000.

In Tokyo this is Martyn Williams, IDG News Service.