Thanks in large part to Disney’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Imax got back into the black during the final quarter of 2022 and beat Wall Street projections.
Imax reported quarterly revenue of $98 million, up a dramatic 44% from Q3 2022 when the entire exhibition industry struggled with a threadbare release slate and decades-low grosses in August and September. The premium format company reported earnings of $2.6 million or 19 cents per share, an improvement from last quarter’s loss of 3 cents per share and beating projections of 15 cents per share.
While Imax’s total box office only reached $177 million in Q3, “Avatar: The Way of Water” alone nearly eclipsed that total with $160 million grossed in Q4. The overall quarterly cume worldwide reached $251.6 million, a 42% increase from last quarter.
Imax has further cemented its position as a major contributor to the success of blockbusters upon which the box office and exhibitors have become even more reliant than before the COVID-19 pandemic. As “Avatar: The Way of Water” reached an astonishing $2.24 billion in global box office grosses, Imax estimates that 11% of that total has come from tickets sold for screenings in its auditoriums.
Signs point to Imax posting a stronger Q1 over last year thanks to a record $61.3 million Lunar New Year period in China along with holdover grosses from “Avatar 2” and $24 million grossed worldwide during the opening weekend of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Imax will also support several March blockbusters including MGM’s “Creed III,” Warner Bros./New Line’s “Shazam!: Fury of the Gods” and Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
Reference-www.thewrap.com
