BEIJING—A Chinese conglomerate agreed to acquire U.S. movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings in a deal that they said was worth around $2.6 billion, in one of the biggest moves yet by a Chinese company to break into the U.S. industry.

The deal announced late Sunday would give China's Dalian Wanda Group Corp. access to AMC's 346 multiplex theaters with more than 5,000 screens, mostly in the U.S. and Canada. As part of the deal, Wanda plans to invest up to an additional $500 million in AMC, which the U.S. chain can use to update its cinemas' technological innovations and reduce debt.

In a statement, Wang Jianlin, chairman and president of Wanda, said the acquisition "will help make Wanda a truly global cinema owner, with theater and technology that enhance the movie-going experience for audiences in the world's two largest movie markets."

The deal is subject to regulatory approval from U.S. and Chinese authorities, the companies added.

AMC is the second-largest theater chain in the U.S. and Canada, behind Regal Entertainment Group. The theater chain, which can trace its history back to 1920, is currently owned by a group that includes Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, CCMP Capital Advisors and Spectrum Equity Investors.

The deal comes as China pushes to develop its own culture industry, with heavy investment in recent years in film, animation and other areas. It aims to build about 20,000 screens nationwide by 2015 from about 6,300 now, according to EntGroup. By 2040, the government aims to have 40,000 screens. The U.S. has more than 39,500 movie screens, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

China also has been championing efforts to build film production companies that can rival Hollywood and expose Chinese culture overseas as Beijing seeks increase its soft power to match its growing economic and military might. The Chinese film industry is looking to U.S. partners like AMC because it hopes to break into other lucrative markets and better understand how to present their domestic films to Western audiences that have traditionally been cool to their product.

But progress has been slow for a number of reasons, including the soft U.S. economy, language issues and the differences between how U.S. and Chinese movies are structured. For example, "The Flowers of War," an ambitious Chinese production starring "Dark Knight" star Christian Bale, underperformed at the box office when it was released in the U.S. earlier this year and showed in only 30 theaters, according to tracking site Box Office Mojo.

The country has recently set up government-based film investment funds in Hollywood and several state-owned media companies are involved with animation giants such as DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

Wanda is a closely held conglomerate with holdings ranging from property to entertainment to tourism. Wanda's ticket sales account for 15% of China's total box office sales, according to its website. The theater company is revving up screen expansion in its domestic market, aiming to reach 2,000 screens by 2015, the website said, compared with 730 screens currently.