The Toronto International Film Festival will be laying down even more red carpet on King Street after announcing it will screen movies in the Princess of Wales Theater on its opening weekend.

The festival’s latest giant screen will unspool films from September 9 to 12, the event’s busiest period for both marketing indie pictures that require distribution deals or those whose distributors are eyeing media buzz ahead of a theatrical release.

“We’re thrilled to add another theatre in our neighbourhood, just steps from TIFF Bell Lightbox,” Toronto fest co-director Cameron Bailey said in a statement Thursday.

The Princess of Wales Theatre, which is also across the street from Roy Thomson Hall, accommodates 1,500 guests and a long red carpet on its King Street doorstep.

The festival will outfit the live theatre complex with a film and digital projection and audio system, enabling the impromptu cinema to screen 35mm, DCP and HDCAM formats.

The 36th Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 8 to 18, 2011.