Impact of Hollywood Strikes, Pandemic Well Behind Us

Imax CEO Richard Gelfond is reeling from the aftermath of last year’s Hollywood strikes and the continuing pandemic.

“With the strikes — and the lingering effects of the pandemic — behind us, we are in an excellent position to fully leverage the benefits of our strong, asset-light business model,” Gelfond said in a statement as his company reported second-quarter financial results.

“The second quarter provided strong evidence that we are at a turning point in our business. System sales are booming, our system installations are up significantly, and our plans for 2026 are as strong as ever,” he added.

The film technology company highlighted the strength of Hollywood’s box office recovery across the broader exhibition industry, even as total revenue fell 9 percent to $89 million, down from $98 million a year earlier, on a profit of $3.4 million, down 57 percent from a profit of $8.4 million in 2023.

Disney and Pixar From inside to outside 2 — becoming the highest-grossing Hollywood animated film of all time at the global box office — performed strongly on Imax screens in June. That helped Imax achieve a global box office of $196.4 million in the second quarter following a surge in film releases in June.

Other Imax box office results in the second quarter include: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Furiosa AND Godzilla x Kong: New Empire. Also in the last quarter, Imax sold its original documentary Blue Angelsabout Blue Angels U.S. Navy pilots to Amazon Prime Video.

The film grossed more than $2.2 million on Imax screens, making it the company’s highest-grossing theatrical opening of the year. As a measure of future business growth, Imax said it had installed 24 theater systems in the second quarter, up from 20 systems in the same period the previous year.

Imax said it ended the latest quarter with 1,705 theaters worldwide, up 4 percent from a year earlier, and had 504 Imax theater systems in the pipeline.