Q3 revenue of $174.6 million at a 69.3% adjusted EBITDA margin; 'The Odyssey' made up 76% of a $712 million box office, and drew 1.7 million IMAX admissions in Korea
IMAX Corp. reported the best quarter in its history on Thursday. Third-quarter revenue rose 64% to $174.6 million. Net income was $117.1 million, more than five times the $22.6 million of a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.21 were more than double Wall Street's forecast of $1.02.
The film behind the jump was Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey', the first feature shot entirely on IMAX film cameras. Ticket sales at IMAX screens worldwide reached a quarterly record of $712.1 million, and $538 million of that, about 76%, came from 'The Odyssey' alone.
Profit grew faster than sales. Adjusted EBITDA reached $120.9 million, a 69.3% margin and 20.7 percentage points higher than a year earlier. Box office is the total that theatres take at the ticket counter; IMAX's own revenue is its share of that, plus sales and leases of projection systems and maintenance fees. When screens already in place sell more tickets at higher prices, IMAX's share rises without much added cost. Chief executive Rich Gelfond said in the earnings release that scarce events and experiences grow more valuable as AI spreads, and called that an opportunity for the business.
With three quarters of the box office coming from one title, the next quarter depends on what follows it. The backlog of systems awaiting installation fell to 409 from 478 a year earlier, and the shares rose only 1.2% before the opening bell on results day.
Korea set its own record. 'The Odyssey' opened there on August 5 and passed 10 million admissions in 33 days. About 1.704 million of those were IMAX tickets as of September 5, beating the 929,000 Korean IMAX record held by 'Avatar: The Way of Water'. Average ticket revenue per viewer was 10,969 won, the highest of any major release this year.
Revenue of $174.6 million and a 69.3% adjusted EBITDA margin; profit up fivefold
Content Solutions, which collects IMAX's share of box office, grew revenue 110% to $94.0 million at a 76% gross margin. Technology Products and Services, mostly system sales and leases, rose 28% to $77.3 million. The company's overall gross margin widened 9.2 points to 72.3%.
Net income includes a one-off: IMAX released a $36.7 million valuation allowance on Canadian deferred tax assets, worth $0.63 a share. Diluted EPS was $1.96 and adjusted EPS $2.21. Operating cash flow rose 28% to $86 million. Chief financial officer Natasha Fernandes told analysts that operating leverage grows as the network widens and box office rises.
| Metric | Q3 2025 | Q3 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $106.7M | $174.6M | +64% |
| Net income | $22.6M | $117.1M | about 5.2x |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $51.8M | $120.9M | +133% |
| Adjusted EPS | $0.47 | $2.21 | +370% |
| Global box office | $367.6M | $712.1M | +94% |
| Local-language box office | $120.2M (33%) | $36.5M (5%) | -70% |
Source: IMAX Q3 2026 earnings release and Form 10-Q
'The Odyssey' was 76% of a $712 million box office; local-language share fell from 33% to 5%
IMAX screened 32 films in the quarter. After 'The Odyssey' came 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' at $58 million, 'Resident Evil' at $24 million, an 'Avengers: Endgame' re-release at $17 million and 'Minions & Monsters' at $10 million. With less than 1% of the world's screens, IMAX took 6.7% of global box office.
Local-language films grossed $36.5 million, 5% of the total, against $120.2 million and 33% a year earlier. That share swings from quarter to quarter with the Hollywood release calendar; in 2025 IMAX had a record local-language year of $405 million from 67 films in 14 countries.
Demand also split by format. Only 41 IMAX sites worldwide can project 70mm film, which the company bills as equivalent to 18K resolution, and by August 10 they had grossed $37.5 million. The TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles alone took $2.8 million, the best single-title total for any IMAX site in North America.
On course to beat $1.4 billion box office guidance; backlog down to 409 from 478
IMAX expects to beat its full-year guidance of a record $1.4 billion in global box office. It has signed agreements for 105 systems this year, 65% at new locations, and Gelfond told analysts a 13-theatre deal in Europe is close. The network stood at 1,887 systems in 91 countries and territories at the end of September, up from 1,829.
The backlog fell to 409 systems from 478, partly because 17 locations in Greater China were removed in a contract restructuring, and installations slipped to 32 from 38. IMAX plans 10 to 15 more 70mm film sites and is piloting new auditorium formats, including smaller ultra-premium rooms. Merchandise is a growing line: after an 'Odyssey' popcorn bucket, IMAX worked with Toho on 'Godzilla Minus Zero' apparel.
Netflix gives 'Cliff Booth' two weeks on 550 IMAX screens, four weeks before streaming
Netflix's first IMAX release, David Fincher's 'The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth' starring Brad Pitt, opens on more than 550 IMAX screens on November 25, plays for two weeks and streams on Netflix from December 23, four weeks after opening.
Cinemark and Regal declined to give the film their IMAX screens, leaving AMC with exclusive U.S. play. The slot had been meant for Greta Gerwig's Netflix film 'Narnia: The Magician's Nephew', which moved to February 12, 2027, so Netflix and IMAX agreed not to require every IMAX theatre to take 'Cliff Booth'. On the analyst call, Gelfond said some exhibitors objected to the Netflix window and that he regards it as "a battle that's already been fought."
1.7 million IMAX admissions in Korea, at the year's highest average ticket price
In Korea, 'The Odyssey' reached 1 million admissions in four days, 5 million in 13, 8 million in 24 and 10 million on September 6, its 33rd day. It is the year's second 10-million film after '왕과 사는 남자' (literally 'The Man Who Lives with the King') in March, the tenth foreign film ever to get there, and Nolan's first since 'Interstellar' in 2014.
Audiences chose their screens. Only one auditorium in Korea, the IMAX room at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall, shows the full 1.43:1 IMAX frame. Its tickets resold for more than 100,000 won, several times face value, and CGV capped how many seats one buyer could book. Premium pricing and repeat viewing put average ticket revenue per viewer at 10,969 won, the highest of the year's major releases.
Overall cinema traffic rose. Korean theatres sold 19.5 million tickets in August, up 45% on the year. CJ CGV shares climbed 24% in the third quarter, and analysts forecast Q3 operating profit of 56.4 billion won.
Premium screens: 6% of screens, 15% of box office, and a higher value on immersion as AI spreads
Gelfond's release spoke of an 'IMAX awakening', placing the company inside a wider shift in which people around the world, especially the young, look for connection and shared experiences bigger than any one person's screen. IMAX's argument is that as generative AI cuts the cost of making video and floods personal screens with content, watching together, at the same time and on a very large screen, becomes scarcer and more valuable.
Cinemark said on its first-quarter call that premium large format (PLF) screens make up about 6% of its screens but about 15% of box office. CJ 4DPLEX's ScreenX and 4DX formats took $70 million in North America in the first half of 2026, up 26%. Sony's 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' was Hollywood's first 'Shot for SCREENX' title, filmed from the start for the multi-wall format, following 'The Odyssey' in fixing the exhibition format at the shooting stage.
Korean premium-format revenue is rising fast. The Korean Film Council (영화진흥위원회) put first-half 2026 premium-screen ticket sales at 45.7 billion won (about $34 million), up 56.3%. IMAX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema and ScreenX seats sell for around 20,000 won, against 13,000 won for a standard adult ticket. 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' drew 4.57 million viewers last year but earned about half of its 52.4 billion won in ticket sales from premium screens.
Audiences also care whether AI was used to make what they watch. In Luminate's July 2026 'AI & Media: Audience Attitudes' report, 93% of respondents said film and TV should disclose AI use. The more viewers question where on-screen content comes from, the more a cinema's large screen, sound and shared audience can be priced as an experience AI does not replace.
What it means for Korean broadcasters
Broadcast advertising revenue in Korea fell 12.3% to 2.01 trillion won (about $1.5 billion) in 2025, according to the Korea Communications and Media Commission (방송미디어통신위원회). Between 2021 and 2025 it declined 10.6% a year on average while mobile advertising grew 7.5% a year. As airtime sales cover less of production costs, broadcasters are looking at selling concerts, award shows and sport as paid cinema events. The two headline numbers here measure different things, though: 10,969 won is the average price a Korean viewer paid for 'The Odyssey', and 69.3% is IMAX's company-wide adjusted EBITDA margin. Neither is a guide to what a broadcaster would earn from cinema screenings.
Cinemas are programming more than films. IMAX streamed Formula One races live to North American screens this year through a deal with Apple. CGV showed every game of the 2026 KBO postseason live in ScreenX, and HYBE (하이브) staged 'HYBE CINE FEST 2026' in more than 1,100 theatres in about 50 countries from October 24 to 31 with distributor Trafalgar Releasing. Broadcasters have long produced music shows, award ceremonies and sports coverage, but broadcast rights do not include theatrical rights. Performers, music publishers and sports rights holders have to agree to domestic and overseas screenings separately, and the extra rights fees and distribution costs need to be priced in first.
The same terms apply to premiering a drama episode or a special in cinemas. Netflix is giving 'Cliff Booth' two weeks in theatres and streaming it four weeks after opening. A broadcaster planning a cinema premiere would need to agree run length, online release timing, minimum guarantees and revenue share with exhibitors, and check for conflicts with existing broadcast and streaming deals. Short runs were the reason Regal and Cinemark passed on 'Cliff Booth'.
The drop in IMAX's local-language share from 33% to 5% reflects that quarter's release mix, not weaker demand for Korean content. Booking dates outside the Hollywood tentpole windows, and starting with concerts or specials that already have a proven fan base on a small number of screens, lets a broadcaster test occupancy and costs at low risk. IMAX told investors in 2024 that films shot on its cameras perform about 20% better on average, but that comparison also reflects differences in budget and distribution.
Outlook: $30 million in 'Dune: Part Three' presales, and the single-title risk
'Dune: Part Three' opens in December with $30 million already in IMAX presales, the company's second-highest ever. 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping', the Indian epic 'Ramayana' and the China release of 'Avengers: Doomsday' follow. The 2027 slate includes 'Star Wars: Starfighter', 'Avengers: Secret Wars', 'Man of Tomorrow', 'Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse', 'Frozen 3' and the original 'Star Wars' in IMAX 70mm film for the first time. IMAX will give 2027 guidance once more signings are in place.
IMAX's next task is to turn a record quarter into revenue that repeats. Three quarters of Q3 box office came from one film, and both the backlog and quarterly installations are below last year's levels. How far the fourth-quarter and 2027 releases carry revenue after 'The Odyssey' will shape the next set of results.
In Korea, CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall remains the only 1.43:1 screen, and CGV plans to open a three-wall LED ScreenX auditorium in Yeouido in the second half. More premium screens will not help a broadcaster unless it has cleared theatrical rights to its IP, settled the release order and can show a profit after rights fees, production and distribution costs. Building a record from small runs and extending it to re-releases and overseas cinema sales is the route open to broadcasters.