Hollywood's Comeback Rests on One Formula: More Great Films

AMC Entertainment narrows its fourth-quarter loss as Imax posts a softer Chinese New Year — but both chains see a strong 2026 slate as their ticket back

The global cinema industry is navigating a slow, uneven recovery — squeezed by streaming competition and stubbornly soft attendance — but its biggest players are betting that the movies themselves will save them.

글로벌 극장 산업, 손실 축소·관객 회복 속 신작 라인업으로 반등 모색

미국 최대 멀티플렉스 체인 AMC 엔터테인먼트(AMC Entertainment)는 4분기 손실을 전년 대비 줄이며 2026년 실적 개선에 자신감을 내비침. 반면 아이맥스(Imax)는 중국 춘절 박스오피스에서 기록적인 2025년 대비 절반 수준에 그치며 희비가 엇갈림. 두 기업 모두 강력한 신작 라인업을 회복의 핵심 열쇠로 꼽으며 올해 흥행 반등 예고

K-EnterTech HubJung Han

AMC Entertainment, the world's largest theater chain, narrowed its losses in the fourth quarter and expressed mounting confidence in the year ahead. Imax, meanwhile, posted a quieter Chinese New Year box office than the record-shattering holiday it enjoyed in 2025. Yet both companies are pointing to the same cure: a blockbuster-heavy slate from Hollywood that they believe will finally restore the industry to full health.

AMC Entertainment  reported a net loss of $127.4 million, or 25 cents per share, for the three months ended December 31 — an improvement from the $135.6 million loss, or 35 cents per share, recorded in the same period a year earlier. Stripping out one-time items, the adjusted loss came to 18 cents per share.

Total revenue slipped to $1.29 billion from $1.31 billion a year earlier, weighed down by lower admissions and weaker food and beverage sales. Overall attendance fell nearly 10 percent during the quarter to 56.3 million. The silver lining: revenue per patron rose across both admissions and concessions, a sign that the company's push into premium, large-format moviegoing is translating into higher spending per seat.

Chief Executive Adam Aron said AMC outpaced the broader industry for the full year, growing revenue faster than the North American box office improved overall. "This outperformance reflects our relentless focus on operating improvements and portfolio optimization," Aron said, citing the company's loyalty programs and its expanded emphasis on premium formats. Looking ahead, he struck an optimistic tone. "AMC is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on a recovering box office," Aron said. "And the not-so-secret formula to a full box-office recovery is straightforward: we need more great movies from our studio partners."

AMC pointed to several upcoming titles it expects to drive footfall this year, including Marvel's Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated The Odyssey. Executives believe the second half of 2026 will mark a genuine inflection point for the industry.

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Imax told a more complicated story. The Toronto-based film technology company said it collected $28 million at the box office during China's seven-day Lunar New Year holiday period, with director Han Han's racing thriller Pegasus 3 leading the way with $24 million in ticket sales in its opening week.

The figure marks a sharp step down from the record $53 million Imax posted over the same holiday in 2025, when Ne Zha 2 dominated Chinese screens and generated $36 million on its own. It also trails Imax's previous Lunar New Year record of $34 million set in 2023. Industry analysts note that Ne Zha 2 was an unusually extraordinary cultural phenomenon, making direct comparisons imperfect — but the decline will nonetheless be closely scrutinized. Both Imax and the Beijing film industry treat the Lunar New Year period as a bellwether for how the Chinese box office may perform for the rest of the year.

Imax CEO Richard Gelfond sought to frame the results in a positive light. "Our continued success with the Chinese New Year holiday underscores the diverse global breadth of our content portfolio — and our unique ability to create opportunity and generate results throughout the year," he said in a statement.

Pegasus 3 marks the fourth collaboration between Imax and Han Han, and has now accumulated $373 million in total Chinese box office to date. Rounding out the holiday slate, martial-arts actioner Blade of the Guardians earned $3.3 million on Imax screens, while thriller Scare Out added $500,000. The film will receive an exclusive North American Imax release starting February 23 in select locations, ahead of a rollout to the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Imax China, the company's listed subsidiary, trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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Together, the two companies' results sketch a portrait of an industry still in recovery mode — but one that has found a workable playbook. AMC's ability to grow per-patron revenue even as total attendance falls underscores how the premium-format strategy is reshaping cinema economics. Fewer people may be going to the movies, but those who do are spending more — and the gap between a standard multiplex ticket and an Imax or Dolby experience continues to widen.

For Imax, the Chinese New Year softness is less a structural setback than a high-watermark problem: Ne Zha 2 was a once-in-a-generation domestic hit, and comparisons will normalize over time. What the results do reaffirm is that both global exhibition and large-format cinema remain deeply dependent on content — and that Hollywood's ability to consistently deliver must-see theatrical events will determine how quickly the industry fully rebounds. For Korean content players eyeing global theatrical expansion, the message is equally clear: premium positioning and top-tier storytelling are the non-negotiable entry tickets to the world's biggest screens.

※ This article is a translated and synthesized report based on coverage by The Wall Street Journal and The Hollywood Reporter, dated February 23, 2026.