IMAX Is Having an Exceedingly Good Year

IMAX is a 55-year-old business—and it's on track for its most lucrative year ever. CEO Rich Gelfond is projecting this year's global box office for IMAX to top $1.2 billion, up 33% from 2024, with Wall Street expecting even bigger things in 2026. CNBC digs into the driving forces: The company's latest coup was a partnership with Apple on F1: The Movie, which was filmed using IMAX's cameras and had a three-week run on IMAX screens that helped push the film's global take to nearly $300 million in just 10 days. IMAX captured over 20% of that revenue globally, a remarkable feat considering its screens make up less than 1% of screens around the globe.

IMAX has also managed to grab more than 20% of the market share for hits like Sinners and Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning. The draw? Audiences are increasingly seeking out premium viewing experiences, and IMAX—thanks to its giant screens, custom-tailored sound, and in-house camera tech—is reaping the benefits; its stock price has jumped 60% over the past year. Gelfond sums up the change:

• "Post-pandemic a lot of activities, especially event activities, have really done well [for] premium brands. You look at concerts, ticket prices went up. Premium seats have gone up. You look at sporting events, same kind of thing. Broadway. I think people, although they enjoy staying at home, streaming and watching streaming products, when they go out of the home, they want something sufficient distinguished from that."

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An interesting sidebar from Fox News, which reports Gelfond said in a recent "Barron's Roundtable" interview that some 18 months ago, Tom Cruise pushed to get "three weeks in IMAX" for his final Mission Impossible film, a period 50% longer than what IMAX typically allows. "We usually only play things for two weeks because there are big blockbusters coming up every couple weeks," Gelfond explained. He said Cruise asked what he needed to do to secure the three-week run. "I said, 'Tom, I want you—every question they ask you, I want you to answer IMAX. So if they say, 'What do you think of the script?' 'In IMAX, it's great.'" According to Gelfond, it "worked."