IMAX rebounds in China
February 17, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Giant cinema screen operator IMAX saw its share price rise 6.4 per cent on February 16 as a direct result of solid box office receipts and attendance numbers at its Chinese theatres.
IMAX, in a statement, said that it had enjoyed the best opening weekend for Chinese New Year holiday attendance. At $20.47 per share during the day it marked a new one-year ‘high’ for Imax.
“Despite capacity limits across the country of at least 75 per cent, China set an all-time record this weekend, with $775 million of ticket sales from the first three days of the Chinese New Year Holiday period,” said analysts at Colliers Securities in a note to clients.
IMAX’s release of the Detective Chinatown 3 film earned $23.5 million in gross box office with the company earning 6 per cent of the figure on just 1 per cent of its screens. The movie (with Chinese box office revenues generating $397 million) beat Avengers:Endgame to become the biggest box office take in any single market.
The Global Cinema Federation, a volunteer-based trade group also noted the opening-day gross of $163 million also set a record, thanks to 93 per cent of screens being open in China, according to analytics firm Gower Street and reported by Deadline.
The IMAX numbers helped improve most cinema and theatre stocks in the US with Cinemark rising 3 per cent.