Christopher Nolan deserves a really nice fruit basket.
The director’s latest blockbuster “Oppenheimer” was shot with Imax cameras, something that Nolan talked up during the film’s press tour. That advocacy contributed to $180 million in global ticket sales for Imax venues, lifting the big screen company’s latest earnings results. Overall, Imax’s revenues jumped 51% during the most recent quarter to $103.9 million. Gross margins increased 98% to $62.7 million, while adjusted earnings per share increased to 35 cents. That beat Wall Street’s projections.
“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 Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax. “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 and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results across our global network.”
As Gelfond notes, it wasn’t just Nolan. Local language releases such as, “Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms” in China and “No More Bets” and “Jawan,” also over-performed. These were complimented by Hollywood fare that may have been relative box office disappointments, but did solid business on Imax screens such as “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The quarter was IMAX’s second highest-grossing quarter of all time at the global box office.
During the three-month period ending in September, Imax increased its footprint, installing 30 systems compared to 17 systems in the third quarter of 2022.
Shares of Imax rose more than 3% in pre-market trading on the strong earnings results.
More to come…