Imax continues to leverage Hollywood’s ongoing box office recovery as the film technologies company unveiled its third-quarter financial results on Wednesday.
With cinema-going rebounding post-Hollywood strikes, Imax posted revenue of $91.5 million for the latest financial quarter, down 12 percent from revenue of $103.9 million during the year-ago period when Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer played on its screens.
Third quarter profits at $13.9 million was up 16 percent on profits of $12 million in the third quarter last year. The adjusted net profit per share in Q3 came to 35 cents, which matched a 35 cents adjusted earnings per-share in the same year-ago period.
Content Solutions revenues — or business from agreements with the major studios and filmmakers — at $30 million was down 32 percent year-over-year. With Deadpool & Wolverine and Alien: Romulus on its screens during the latest quarter, Imax saw its global box office haul come to $239 million.
That’s down from a year-earlier $347 million global box office tally when Oppenheimer and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One filled Imax screens in the year-ago period.
Imax in Q3 signed agreements for new theater systems in key markets like Australia, France, Japan and Saudi Arabia. With cinema-going recovering post-Hollywood strikes, the company’s upcoming movie slate and theater system sales and installations this year to date outpacing signing for full-year 2023, Imax predicted it will deliver a record of over $1.2 billion in global box office in 2025.
Heading into next year, Imax has a year-end 2024 slate that includes Gladiator II, Wicked, Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King. “Imax continues to set the table for a new, sustained era of growth with a 2025 and 2026 slate that is as promising as we’ve ever seen,” Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax said in a statement.
Next year, Imax will also host 14 Hollywood and local language film releases worldwide that were shot with the company’s proprietary cameras. These include Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, The Fantastic Four, Blade and Thunderbolts tentpoles, Mission: Impossible 8, Superman: Legacy and How to Train Your Dragon.
In addition, the next film from Christopher Nolan and producing partner and wife Emma Thomas set for a release in July 2026 will use new Imax technology to shoot that top secret feature for Universal. The 2026 Hollywood release slate includes a carryover Avatar title, and the next films from the Avengers, Star Wars, The Batman, Super Mario Bros. and Toy Story franchises.
“We have a fuller, more promising slate over the next two years and beyond than we’ve ever seen. We continue to believe we are entering a very exciting time for our business. And we look forward to continuing to deliver results in our business, and for our shareholders,” Gelfond told analysts during an after-market call of an expected upwards growth trajectory for Imax coming out of the pandemic era.
Gelfond also put to rest any talk Hollywood faces a superhero fatigue in its box office and audience reactions to its tentpole releases like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels. “I don’t think it’s a real issue,” he told analysts while pointing to recent ticket sales for Deadpool & Wolverine.
But Gelfond balked at discussing a recent media report that pointed to Imax talking to Netflix about bringing Greta Gerwig’s The Chronicles of Narnia remake to its giant screen network globally. “We’ve tried different models in the past, whether it’s an early release or exclusive content. I won’t comment on that specific story in any way, but you know we’re always looking for new approaches to eventsize content,” he told analysts.
