Imax rode a pair of male-skewing blockbusters in Paramount’s “Gladiator II” and Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance,” plus holiday audiences for Disney’s “Mufasa” to a strong $93 million in revenue for Q4 of 2024.
While that total is slightly below the $98 million earned in Q4 2022 thanks to “Avatar: The Way of Water,” it is an 8% increase year-over-year as the global box office for the premium format this past quarter reached $204 million.
More topline results:
EPS: Imax reported a net income for the quarter of $5 million, with an adjusted earnings per share of 27 cents. That’s a touch below the projections of 29 cents per share by Zacks Investment Research.
Full-year income was reported at $26 million with a total adjusted EBITDA of $139 million. Q4 EBITDA was reported at $37 million.
Box office: “Gladiator II” and “Venom 3” were in a virtual tie for the top spot in Imax’s quarterly box office charts, with each contributing $31 million to the $204 million overall total. “Mufasa” was just behind with $26 million, making the majority of its quarterly Imax gross between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve as the Disney prequel rebounded from a slow opening weekend to gross $688 million worldwide.
New auditoriums: Imax installed 58 new auditoriums in Q4, bringing its total installments for 2024 to 146, up from 128 in 2023. Of those, 28 systems in the fourth quarter and 63 in the full year were under sales arrangements, compared to 35 and 70 systems in the prior year, respectively. Imax is expecting to at least match that total in 2025, estimating 145-160 new installations in the coming year.
“In 2024, IMAX further strengthened its position at the center of global entertainment – expanding the roster of filmmakers working with our technology, strengthening our studio marketing, hitting the high-end of our installation guidance, and innovating to expand our programming – including our deal with Netflix for the release of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ across the IMAX global network in advance of its debut on the service,” CEO Rich Gelfond said in a statement.
“With the headwinds we faced in China in 2024 beginning to lift, we’re poised to build on the Fourth Quarter’s significant double-digit growth in adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share. We look forward to capitalizing on the promising opportunity ahead to achieve a record year at the global box office and strong returns for our shareholders.”
Ima
More to come…
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