{"id":504432,"date":"2026-02-26T03:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T03:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/504432\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T03:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T03:21:09","slug":"imax-box-office-surges-in-fourth-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/504432\/","title":{"rendered":"Imax Box Office Surges In Fourth Quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAs major cinema chains slump on reduced 2025 attendance, Imax<\/a> is reporting a surge in global\u00a0box office\u00a0during its fourth quarter from a mix of Hollywood tentpoles like Avatar: Fire and Ash, local language titles and alternative programming.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, the film technologies company also revealed its gross box office during the three months to Dec. 31, 2025 jumped 62 percent to $336.2 million, which was up 16 percent from a previous Q4 record. Stock in Imax rose by $2.48, or nearly 7 percent, to $39.00\u00a0in after-hours market trading. <\/p>\n

\n\tImax is looking to increased contributions from Hollywood blockbusters shot with its proprietary cameras and local-language films to drive what it touts as a Big Bang moment for the company in 2026. \u201cOur slate for 2026 is arguably the strongest we\u2019ve ever seen, with a record of at least 12 Filmed For Imax releases worldwide; a highly anticipated offering of family films in a time where we\u2019re growing market share with family audiences; and more international blockbusters than ever,\u201d Imax CEO Richard Gelfond stated.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Imax chief added, \u201cThe year is highlighted by huge, Imax-centric tentpoles \u2014 including Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey, the first theatrical feature shot entirely with Imax film cameras; and Filmed For Imax releases including Denis Villeneuve\u2019s Dune: Part Three, Jon Favreau\u2019s The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Greta Gerwig\u2019s Narnia \u2014 and our strong slates for 2027 and 2028 continue to come into view.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring an after-market analyst call, Gelfond in prepared remarks forecast Imax will continue to grab a bigger share of the global box office this year and next as a provider of premium theatrical screens and technologies to distinguish itself from the broader exhibition industry.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn sum, 2025 was a transformational, record-breaking year for Imax. We exceeded our targets for financial performance and finished with a strong fourth quarter. We drove great results for our exhibition partners, breaking box office records as fans, filmmakers and studios clamor for more of The Imax Experience. We continued network expansion with significant runway to grow further, even as we capture a record share of the global box office. In every way, we have leveled up our performance,\u201d Gelfond argued. <\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, Imax said it posted Q4 revenue up 35 percent to $125.2 million, compared to $92.7 million in the year-ago period. That beat an analyst forecast for revenue of $120.12 million. Net income fell 64 percent to $2.5 million, compared to a year-earlier $6.9 million. <\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the latest quarter, Imax recorded a one-time\u00a0charge of $15 million\u00a0to repurchase convertible notes due\u00a02026, and a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $7 million for SSIMWAVE, a streaming tech company acquired in 2022. The adjusted earnings per-share hit 58 cents, against a year-earlier 27 cents.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso during the fourth quarter, content solutions revenue rose 50 percent to $38.2 million, against a year-earlier $25.5 million, underpinned by the strong box office growth anchored by end-year Hollywood tentpoles. The technology products and services revenue was up 32 percent to $84.6 million, compared to $64 million in the same period of 2024, on increased theater system sale arrangements. <\/p>\n

\n\tImax earlier said its worldwide theater network helped the company post $1.28 billion in global\u00a0box office<\/a>\u00a0for 2025, a new company record. That surpassed Imax\u2019s previous highwater mark of $1.1 billion in global box office for 2019, and the company now expects $1.4 billion in global box office for 2026. <\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the after-market call, CEO Gelfond discussed why Imax China posted $28 million in\u00a0box office<\/a>\u00a0over the latest Lunar New Year seven-day period, which was down on a record high of\u00a0$53 million<\/a>\u00a0in box office\u00a0over China\u2019s Lunar New Year period in Feb. 2025. He said some local language Chinese titles were delayed to summer 2026 releases. \u201cThe result is more a matter of timing than it\u2019s the result of any trends in the Chinese box office,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tBack in the domestic market, Gelfond said a strong 2026 Hollywood film slate should allow major exhibitors to increase ticket prices for select Hollywood tentpoles on premium screens later this year. \u201cThere are definitely instances where I think you could push the price higher. And if we ran theaters, we would certainly do that,\u201d he insisted. <\/p>\n

\n\tGelfond added Hollywood studios have an \u201celevated\u201d demand for Imax screens, especially as major directors are opting to shoot their latest movies with Imax digital cameras. That includes F1 director Joseph Kosinski getting set to direct a\u00a0Miami Vice\u00a0reboot for Universal entirely in the Imax big screen format, and Ryan Coogler shooting his Oscar front-runner Sinners in both Imax 70mm and Ultra Panavision 70mm. <\/p>\n

\n\tAnd after Imax unveiled a partnership with\u00a0Apple\u00a0TV to show live Formula One races from Miami to Monza screen in 50 locations nationwide later this year, Gelfond said his company was exploring with other international distributors potential deals to bring live F1 races live elsewhere in its global theater network. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As major cinema chains slump on reduced 2025 attendance, Imax is reporting a surge in global\u00a0box office\u00a0during its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,5604,134,177950,344],"class_list":["post-504432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-imax","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}