Imax Q4 Revenue Dips, CEO Touts Strong Full-Year 2023 At North American Box Office, Growing Global Footprint

Imax saw sales dip in the fourth quarter to $86 million from $48 million, in line with Wall Street forecasts, as the company focused on the full year and its accelerated global expansion. The stock in up in after-market trading.

Adjusted ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)was $23 million (also down from the year ago), and EPS was flat at 5 cents a share, also in line.  

The fourth quarter was hit by big ticket films moving out of 2023. Oppenheimer, which came out over the summer — in Q2 – was a big boost.

Full-year 2023 revenue jumped 25% to $375 million.

“As the entertainment landscape transforms, it is clear that IMAX is among its premier, in-demand destinations,” said CEO Rich Gelfond. “We drove significant expansion and diversification of our global footprint, with a record 61 of our system installations coming from strategic Rest of World markets such as Japan, South Korea and Europe. Even as we deliver an outsized share of the global box office, we estimate the current IMAX network is only at 47% penetration — with the opportunity to open nearly 2,000 additional locations worldwide.”

“Our strong network growth is a direct result of our global content strategy, which has yielded the biggest and most diverse portfolio of IMAX Experiences ever.

Last year, he said, “saw Imax deliver a record at the North American box office, highest grossing year ever for local language films and overall box office approaching our best year ever. We are strategically managing our content portfolio to drive greater share of Hollywood releases, grow local language, accelerate our pipeline of IMAX Documentaries, and push further into emerging verticals including music and gaming, live experiences and recurring programming.”