IMAX Corp.’s IMAX theaters continue to break box-office collection records with the grand success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In just 12 days after its release, the blockbuster movie raked in $106 million globally.
This figure does not include the contribution from China, IMAX’s biggest international market, where it is slated to release on Jan 9, 2016. The last movie that witnessed such massive success for the theater giant was Jurassic World which achieved the same feat in 18 days but included the sales in China.
IMAX theaters witnessed the highest-ever opening weekend box-office collections from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The movie scooped up nearly $30 million in the U.S. from 391 IMAX theaters. It garnered $18 million internationally across 276 IMAX screens, excluding China. Jurassic World and Iron Man 3 had collected a respective of $44.1 million and $28.8 million, globally.
The film has already earned over $1.2 billion worldwide and is expected to touch the $2 billion mark. We believe that the festive week will drive revenues for IMAX further.
IMAX 3D theaters are integrated with the IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology offering advanced sound quality, high-definition video, customized theatre geometry and advanced digital audio features, significantly enhancing the experience.
IMAX theaters witnessed huge box-office success throughout 2015 supported by The Walt Disney Company’s DIS Star Wars, Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World and Furious 7. Also, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron generated considerable revenues. Riding on the success of billion-dollar franchisees, IMAX is poised to witness strong top-line growth in the final quarter of 2015.
IMAX’s movie business is also gearing up for a grand 2016 with some big films lined up for release like Marvel’s Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse Now and DC Comics’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Recently, IMAX inked a deal with Japan's highest-grossing exhibition company, Toho Cinemas Ltd., a subsidiary of Toho Co. Ltd., for 10 more theaters in the country. Notably, this marks the company’s largest deal in Japan, expanding its footprint from 1 to 11 theaters.
We believe that the release of popular movie franchisees coupled with the opening of new screens globally will continue to drive IMAX’s revenues.
IMAX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the sector are AMC Networks Inc. AMCX and RR Media Ltd. RRM. AMC Networks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while RR Media carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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