Imax Swings to Quarterly Profit on Higher Revenue and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’

Etan Vlessing
·4 min read

Imax continues to benefit from Hollywood’s ongoing box office recovery as the film technologies company unveiled its third-quarter financial results Wednesday.

Imax posted revenue of $103.9 million for the latest financial quarter, up 51 percent from a year ago. That beat an analyst forecast of $98.7 million.

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Third-quarter profits of $12 million meant a swing from a year-earlier $9 million loss, with adjusted earnings per share reaching 35 cents. The company had Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer generating more than $184 million in Imax global box office across its network, making it a top 5 Imax release of all time.

Other major releases on Imax screens included Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part 1 and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The global box office for Imax titles over the third quarter rose 98 percent to $347 million.

Nolan’s epic tentpole Oppenheimer also centered a mix of Hollywood and local-language blockbusters on Imax screens during the latest quarter, which included China’s Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms earning more than $35 million in Imax theaters.

“Imax financial results for the third quarter are spectacular by any measure — versus budget, versus our historical performance and in the context of a highly dynamic business environment for media and entertainment,” said CEO Richard Gelfond. “We are programming by far the strongest and most diverse content portfolio in our history — Hollywood blockbusters, local-language films, marquee theatrical releases by streamers, concert films, docs, live events — and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results across our global network.”

Also of note, Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense concert film, which bowed at the Toronto Film Festival, became the highest-grossing Imax Live Event title of all time. The company also pointed to “strong” presales for Beyoncé’s upcoming Renaissance concert film, after Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concert film had an opening weekend at over $13 million globally on Imax screens.

Gelfond on a morning analyst call said local market musical talent in China especially could originate a model for concert films that could be repeated across the Imax network worldwide. He pointed to Imax recently showing in France Central Tour in Cinema, a film showcasing the French rock band Indochine’s 40th anniversary concert that was shot with 22 Imax cameras.

“That’s led French talent and other talent around the world to look to replicate that model,” Gelfond said as Imax looks to ride a Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour wave into international markets.

Gelfond also discussed restarted negotiations for a new contract between SAG-AFTRA and the major Hollywood studios and streamers, with the possibility of an imminent settlement dangling.

“There’s not a lot of open issues out there. You would think this thing would be settled relatively in the near term. But again, there’s so much emotion involved in those things, and when emotion clashes with the real world, it’s very hard to make concrete predictions. But for what it’s worth, I’m not at the negotiating table,” Gelfond added.

The Imax boss after the analyst call told THR that both sides in the labor talks had to consider what might be gained from an early settlement. “When things drag on this long, people are passionate about small things, and lose perspective about bigger things. And when you weigh off what you might gain from continuing to fight, versus what you certainly will lose if you stay shut down, it doesn’t make a lot of logical sense,” Gelfond argued.

Amid the labor actions in Hollywood, Imax has seen potential upside from the major studios moving titles, including Dune 2 shifting to March 2024, which in turn allowed play for The Marvels and the Hunger Games prequel on Imax screens in the current financial quarter.

“If things fall in the right way, 2024 certainly can be a year of growth for us,” Gelfond said. But that’s contingent on an early settlement to the SAG-AFTRA labor talks with Hollywood majors and streamers.

“If the strike goes on into the new year, I would have some concerns about the second half of 2024,” he told THR. In the meantime, Gelfond argued Imax was better placed than rival exhibitors in settling its release slate into 2024, as it only requires one major Hollywood tentpole at any point to fill its theaters, as opposed to major cinema chains needing to program for giant multiplexes.

“We’ve consistently shown that we can make different choices and survive during challenging times,” Gelfond said.

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