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Imax said today it expects to return to its pre-pandemic gross box office level of $1.1 billion in 2023, as it reported revenue of $98 million for last year’s fourth quarter, down 10% from the year before.
That dip, in-line with Wall Street forecasts, comes despite blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water and was due largely to a still recovering China box office, said CEO Rich Gelfond on a conference call. But the China box office has surged ahead recently, he said, “with a 180-degree turn in just a few months.”
Avatar debuted day-and-date with China in December, basically re-opening and jumpstarting the Chinese market. Worldwide, the film is the highest grossing first-run Imax release of all time with more than $253 million.
Imax fourt-quarter earnings per share fell to 19 cents from 31 cents.
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania delivered $12.2M in Imax box office for the Presidents’ four-day weekend — 10% of the overall North America gross.
The company had a strong $61 million in local language box office during the Chinese New Year holiday, up 72% over 2022.
For the full year, Imax said it captured its largest share ever of both the global (3.3%) and domestic (4.4%) box office. It’s global box office rose 33% year-on-year to $850 million.
The has multi-system agreements for seven new locations in Japan and ten in Indonesia this year.
The stock has rallied this year as it seems clear the company is set to gain from on ongoing shift toward premium theatrical amenities and alternative content post-pandemic and Wall Street has noticed. Analyst Alicia Reese of Wedbush Securities recently added Imax to the firm’s investment Best Ideas List, calling it “the best way to play the theatrical rebound in 2023.”
“The first ‘Avatar’ took IMAX to a new level, and we are seeing early signs that its sequel will help drive growth across our business,” said CEO Rich Gelfond. The film is the company’s “highest grossing release ever in nearly 50 international markets, many of which are underrepresented with IMAX systems and among those we’ve identified for strategic expansion. Coupled with a strong, consistent Hollywood slate and our expanding local language content portfolio in priority markets, we see a clear opportunity to further expand and diversify our global footprint this year.”
China, where Imax has a standalone company and a big presence, is also key. Avatar and Ant-Man both gained day-and-date Chinese releases “and Chinese-made blockbusters like ‘The Wandering Earth 2’ and ‘Full River Red’ drawing big audiences, China is fast reasserting itself as one of the world’s biggest moviegoing markets,” he said.
Gelfond will host a conference call at 4:30 ET.