Imax saw softer revenue and profit last quarter but blew away Wall Street estimates citing a surge in global box office in June and a big bump from the sale of Imax original documentary The Blue Angels to Amazon.
The stock popped on the numbers, up nearly 4% in premarket trade.
Sales fell 9% to $89 million for the three months ended in June but soundly beat consensus. Ditto with adjusted ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $31 million (down 14%) and adjusted earnings per share of 18 cents (vs 26 cents in the 2023 quarter).
Its global box office of $196.4 million in Q2 after a June surge of hit releases accelerated momentum that has continued into Q3. It said it’s delivered 10% or more of the domestic opening on seven consecutive releases this spring on only 1% of North American screens.
The record-breaking performance of Inside Out 2 in particular led to a succession of recent box office hits that Imax says demonstrates “supply, not demand, depressed the global grosses of the early summer.” The slate in April and May was thin due to Hollwyood strikes last year, squeezing exhibitors.
The Blue Angels, part of the company’s push into original docs, earned $2.2+ million in Imax and delivered the highest grossing theatrical documentary opening of the year to date. It opened on Prime Video as the top original film in its first weekend and was the no. 3 original movie in all of streaming in its first week, per Luminate, it said.
“With the strikes — and the lingering effects of the pandemic — firmly behind us, we are in an excellent position to fully realize the benefits of our strong, asset-lite business model,” said CEO Rich Gelfond. “The second quarter offered strong evidence that we are at in inflection point in our business; we are on a tear with system sales activity, our system installations are up significantly, and the slate through 2026 is as strong as we’ve ever seen.”
He’s hosting a call with analysts at 8:30 ET.