Giant screen specialist IMAX enjoyed its highest-grossing Q1 ever at the global box office with $298 million (€262.5m) on the strength of a record-breaking Chinese New Year holiday, which delivered triple the company’s previous best with $182 million.

The movie Ne Zha 2 has earned more than $164 million on IMAX screnes, the company’s highest-grossing local-language animated film and release in China ever. Global box office of $298 million in Q1 was up 12 per cent year-over-year with other top grossing first-quarter titles including Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World ($27 million), Mickey 17 ($11 million) and the Interstellar re-release ($10 million).

Overall, IMAX revenue rose 10 per cent to $87 million (vs the $84.2 million Wall Street anticipated).

This year is seeing a record number of so-called “filmed for IMAX” releases worldwide including the recently released Sinners, which kicked off a run of eight consecutive Hollywood releases filmed with IMAX cameras.

The company affirmed expectations of $1.2 billion in global box office in 2025. It has significant presence in China, which has said it will modestly scale back the number of Hollywood films it takes amid a trade war with the Trump administration.

The company delivered signings for 95 new and upgraded IMAX Cinema systems worldwide in Q1, its second best first quarter sales result.

“[The company] is off to an excellent start in 2025 — the fundamentals of our business have never been stronger, with record global box office and strong system sales and installations growth in the first quarter,” said IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond. “With a remarkable global slate scheduled over the next several years and surging demand among exhibitors, we believe we are entering a new era of growth for the company.”

“[Q1 results] showed growth across key strategic areas including local language and alternative content, and system sales and installations — and underscore the strength of our diversified content portfolio, with a record-breaking Chinese New Year and strong alternative content lineup more than offsetting a slow start to the Hollywood slate,” he added

Exhibitors, Gelfond noted, are increasingly adding IMAX screens as the format tends to over-index the broader market.

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Categories: Articles, Business, Results

Tags: china, cinema, IMAX, Marvel, tariffs