IMAX recovery continues
February 24, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Giant screen cinema operator IMAX saw its shares rise 9 per cent in after-hours trading following better than expected results that were better than its pre-pandemic numbers.
IMAX said that its latest quarter-year (to the end of December) saw a 15 per cent rise in box office to $277 million (€247.2m) and represented the company’s highest-ever gross. Its end-of-year numbers grew 146 percent to $638 million for the full year.
Its share of those revenues reversed previous losses (of $21.2 million in 2020) to profit of $10.1 million. Overall quarterly revenue was $108.6 million, compared to a year-earlier $56 million.
“In the fourth quarter alone, IMAX turned in a dominating performance at the global box office, launched a major streaming partnership with Disney+, and created a series of exclusive events connecting theatrical and streaming in a way that few brands can,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said. “In China and Japan, we continue to embed even deeper in the local filmmaking ecosystems, from putting our technology in the hands of local filmmakers to becoming an important partner for anime blockbusters in Japan.”