Imax Corp Bank of America 2026 Media,Communications & Entertainment Conference

We're good to go. Rich, welcome back. We're here with Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX Corporation, and we're thrilled to have you.

Yeah, obviously, Jessica, there's not a better time for us to go to a conference like that. Our company is in the midst of a dramatic awakening globally, so happy to be here.

What a year it's been. Since you were here last year, your stock has basically doubled after spending years in a tight trading range. For years it was $18. Lucky number, but still nicer to be in the 50s. You've reached a different level of relevance for moviegoing. Just mentioned a bazillion kids outside the theater, the IMAX theater the other day. Very young. Clearly, you're more relevant than ever and you're packing them in. But having Chris Nolan in your corner helps, but what do you think has really changed in the IMAX opportunity in the last year or so?

Yeah, this is going to sound like hyperbole, but I think it's really the beginning rather than the later stages of what's going on. When we looked at our slate for the year, I was the most bullish person in the company on "Odyssey." Our record up until that point had been $225 million for "Avatar." Keep in mind, that's on 1% of the screens in the world. Today we're knocking on the door of a half a billion dollars. How many films do a half a billion, let alone in IMAX only? The comment I made when I was telling people at IMAX they didn't understand the impact of this movie, was that I don't know where this is going to take us, but it's going to take us to places they couldn't imagine.

There's a lot going on beneath the surface, but even publicly on the surface. Yesterday we put out a release with The Walt Disney Company saying that they're re-releasing "Star Wars" next February.

Wow. The 50th anniversary. It was filmed in 35-millimeter film, and they're releasing it in IMAX.

More importantly, they're releasing it in IMAX film. They're printing it out and doing that, and they're also announced they're doing "Starfighter" next year, the Ryan Gosling one, which I've been on set for, and I'm very optimistic about that film with IMAX prints. We're now in week 8, and like you said, there are lines around the block. We've extended the film run until the end of September. What I described to you, this is just one small anecdote, but I think it's funny, is Chuck Schumer called Adam Aron, the head of AMC Theatres, and said, "I've got to see the 'Odyssey.' Can you get us in?" Adam called me, and he said, "I can't get anybody in.

Can you get anybody in?" It's a phenomenon, but thinking about it more in business terms, I think it's a product breakout.

Right. Just one final thought is our next big film release is on Dune 3, which is around Christmas, and we put the tickets on sale 2 weeks ago.

If you stop today, which is 3 months in advance of the film's release, it would be one of the most highest pre-sales in our 60-year history. I don't think this is a one-off. I think it's symptomatic of a real change.

Absolutely. As you think about IMAX, as you assess the business, how do you define where IMAX is today and where you see the opportunity from here?

Yeah. Where we are today, let's put it in some quantitative terms, is for this quarter, we're over $600 million in box office so far, and it's just started to be September. Our best quarter ever was in the mid-300s. When you look at what's coming forward, we have Resident Evil. I know you had Sony on before us, and tracking is quite good on that. We have Digger, which is a Tom Cruise movie coming out. I mentioned Dune: Part Three coming out. We also have a very interesting project, which is called The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, and it's a sequel that Netflix is doing to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. David Fincher's directing. It stars Brad Pitt. Why that's interesting, it's only being released in IMAX exclusively.

Wow for two weeks. Anyone in the world that wants to see that movie in a theater has to go to IMAX to see it.

That's on top of The Odyssey still playing. We're having trouble getting it off the screens because the demand is so high. It's a very exciting time, as you look in summer of 2027 is known, and the film slate there looks really good. The Dune playover, because it opens in Christmas, will be very good. You've got at the end of the year, the next Avengers: Doomsday that we're playing there, and you have Frozen, and you have The Thomas Crown Affair with Michael B. Jordan. We're doing again with Netflix, Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew. To me, as exciting as all that is, it's the stuff that hasn't come to fruition yet that I was mentioning.