Image source: The Motley Fool.
Date
Feb. 25, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. ET
Call participants
- Chief Executive Officer — Richard L. Gelfond
- Chief Financial Officer — Natasha Fernandes
- Chief Legal Officer — Rob Lister
Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com
Takeaways
- Global box office — $1.28 billion, representing a 40% increase year over year and the company’s all-time record.
- Box office share — 3.8% of the global industest, up 700 basis points from the prior year, marking the largest company share to date.
- Local language box office — $405 million worldwide from 67 international releases across 14 countries, the highest ever for IMAX(NYSE:IMAX).
- System signings — 166 new and upgraded systems signed in 2025, up 28% year over year.
- System installations — 160 systems installed, reaching the high conclude of guidance, with 10% growth year over year.
- Network expansion — Commercial footprint grew 3.5%, driven by 4% growth domestically and just over 8% internationally.
- Total revenue — $410 million for 2025, an increase of 16% compared to $352 million in 2024.
- Adjusted EBITDA — $185 million for the year, representing a 33% increase, with an EBITDA margin of 45%, up approximately 570 basis points year over year.
- Adjusted EPS — $1.45 for full year, up $0.50 from the previous year, despite a 28% tax rate.
- Operating cash flow — $127 million, a record for the company, with free cash flow of $85 million including $28 million network investment.
- Gross margin — 60% for 2025, up 600 basis points year over year, with $246 million in gross profit.
- Content solutions segment — Revenues grew 21% for the year, with gross profit up 50% year over year to $100 million and a segment gross margin of 66%.
- Technology products and services segment — Full year revenue increased 16%, with a gross profit margin of 57%, up 400 basis points year over year.
- Fiscal Q4 performance concludeed Dec. 31, 2025 — $336 million in box office, up 16% from the prior Q4 record; quarterly revenue up 35% year over year; 65 systems installed compared to 58 the previous year.
- Capital structure — Cash at year-conclude totaled $151 million, up 50%, with $289 million in debt and net leverage at 0.7x; a new $250 million convertible note was issued at 0.75% interest, raising the conversion price to $57 per share through a capped call.
- System sales mix guidance — The company expects 160-175 system installations in 2026, with a 45%-55% sales to joint-venture mix.
- Strategic repurchasing — Fiscal Q4 included $22 million in one-time charges: $15 million for repurchasing over 99% of 2026 convertible notes and $7 million due to non-cash goodwill impairment related to SSIMWAVE.
Summary
IMAX(NYSE:IMAX) reported a record-breaking year, highlighted by its highest ever global box office, substantial margin expansion, and robust cash generation, while providing guidance for continued network growth and margin improvement through 2028. Strategic initiatives, such as partnerships with major studios and expansion in underpenetrated international markets, were reinforced by management’s clarification of persistent demand for both Hollywood and local-language content across its platform, and the company outlined potential upside from upcoming blockbuster releases and new content deals. Cash leverage was actively utilized to de-risk dilution, accelerate installations, and support further revenue scalability as IMAX capitalizes on content exclusivity and a strong slate.
- Gelfond stated, “Tickets for select IMAX 70-millimeter revealings sold out a full year in advance,” indicating high forward demand for premium content releases.
- Fernandes confirmed, “year-conclude 2025, we held $151 million in cash, an increase of 50% from year-conclude 2024,” supporting IMAX’s capacity for accelerated investments and strategic flexibility.
- Management described content diversification and relationships with filmbuildrs as critical drivers, noting that, “Every quarter of 2025 had a different content storyline enabled by our diverse programming strategy.”
- The company tarobtained an adjusted EBITDA margin “over 50%” by 2028 and committed to maintaining a minimum margin of 45% for 2026.
- Guidance was reiterated for high single- to low double-digit revenue CAGR through 2028, with adjusted EPS growth expected at twice the revenue rate.
Industest glossary
- DMR (Digital Re-Mastering): IMAX’s proprietary technology that enhances film resolution and sound for large-format presentation.
- JV (Joint Venture) systems: IMAX theater installations operated in partnership with exhibitors, sharing revenues rather than outright sales.
- PSA (Per Screen Average): Box office revenue generated per IMAX screen in a specified period.
- CapEx (Capital Expconcludeiture): Company spconcludeing on physical assets, such as IMAX network expansion and system installations.
- Convertible notes: Corporate debt securities that can be converted to equity under defined conditions, potentially diluting existing shareholders.
- Capped call: A financial instrument applyd in convertible note transactions to limit dilution by raising the effective conversion price of the notes.
- Box office indexing: The ratio of IMAX’s box office share compared to the total box office for a given film or release period.
- Rest of world: Geographic regions outside North America in IMAX’s reporting and operational segmentation.
- SSIMWAVE: IMAX subsidiary focapplyd on content quality monitoring and technology services.
Full Conference Call Transcript
Rich Gelfond, Chief Executive Officer; and Natasha Fernandes, our Chief Financial Officer. Rob Lister, Chief Legal Officer, is also joining us today. Today’s conference call is being webcast in its entirety on our website. A replay of the webcast will be built available shortly after the call. In addition, the full text of our earnings press release and the slide presentation have been posted on the Investor Relations section of our site. Our historical Excel model is posted to the website as well. I would like to remind you of the following information regarding forward-viewing statements. Today’s call as well as the accompanying slide deck may include statements that are forward-viewing and that pertain to future results or outcomes.
These forward-viewing statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could caapply our actual future results to not occur or occurrences to differ. Please refer to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of some of the factors that could affect our future results and outcomes. Any forward-viewing statements that we build on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. During today’s call, references may be built to certain non-GAAP financial measures.
Discussion of management’s apply of these measures and the definition of these measures as well as a reconciliation to non-GAAP financial measures are contained in this afternoon’s press release and our earnings materials, which are available on the Investor Relations page of our website at imax.com. With that, let me now turn the call over to Mr. Richard Gelfond. Rich?
Richard L. Gelfond: Thanks, Jennifer, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today as we review our results for a record-breaking year and view ahead to a very promising 2026. 2025 was a truly transformational year for the company in which we firmly established IMAX as a premier global platform for entertainment and events with a powerful position among out-of-home experiences and a content pipeline that continues to grow richer and more diverse. We finished with a record $1.28 billion in global box office, up 40% year-over-year. We captured our hugegest share of the global box office ever, up 700 basis points year-over-year.
We achieved our highest grossing year ever for local language films with $405 million worldwide with 67 international releases from 14 countries, including 2 of our top 5 in Ne Zha 2 and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. And we drove significant network growth with agreements for 166 new and upgraded IMAX systems and 160 systems installed worldwide, including 8% network growth in the rest of the world. We are an unqualified winner in a complex entertainment landscape. Signs of our impact are everywhere. Studios put IMAX front and center in their marketing campaigns, driving record indexing and enormous media value for our brand.
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times have all published features highlighting our unique success. Our stock is among the best performers in global media and entertainment, up over 44% in 2025. And IMAX releases earned 58 Academy Award nominations, including 5 of the 10 best picture nominees. Every one of Warner Bros.’ 30 nominations was for a film that played in IMAX, including Sinners, which was shot with IMAX film cameras and One Battle After Another, which received an IMAX 70-millimeter film run. We delivered at least 20% of the domestic opening for Sinners, One Battle After Another and F1. Our financial results reflect our progress and the strength and incrementality in our model.
We beat projections across almost every key financial metrics, setting several company records. We delivered a record $410 million in total revenue in 2025. We achieved double-digit percentage beats on original consensus estimates for adjusted EBITDA and EPS with $185 million and $1.45, respectively, for the full year. We delivered a 45% EBITDA margin, a record and our first time breaking 40% since 2019, record operating cash flow of $127 million for the full year. And in the fourth quarter, we delivered record box office and over 50% growth in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS.
We expect another outstanding year in 2026 with a projected $1.4 billion in global box office, 160 to 175 system installations worldwide and total adjusted EBITDA margin in the mid-40s range with a floor of 45%. And through 2028, we aim to drive revenue growth at high single to low double-digit compound annual growth rate, adjusted EBITDA margin of over 50% by 2028, adjusted EPS growth at twice the rate of revenue and free cash flow conversion of approximately 50% in 2026 and growing. We believe we are far from our peak, but rather in a period of evolution and growth.
With superior immersive technology and unmatched scale, IMAX is the premier global platform for blockbuster content and blockbuster content continues to grow in importance across the global ecosystem. The world’s greatest filmbuildrs, studios and even streamers are leaning into blockbuster theatrical releases as drivers of IP and value throughout the chain. As this trconclude accelerates, IMAX becomes an increasingly valuable player. We’re the only game in town with a global platform, content portfolio and well-recognized brand. We’re able to leverage the shift to premium and consumer demand for great out-of-home experiences.
And with a very strong slate booking all the way into 2029 and an expanding total addressable market for IMAX systems, we are capitalizing on our strong position and delivering for our shareholders. The slate for ’26 is arguably the strongest we’ve ever seen, highlighted by massive films for IMAX tentpoles, headlining a record of at least 12 films for IMAX releases worldwide, including Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the first theatrical feature shot entirely with IMAX film cameras. Tickets for select IMAX 70-millimeter revealings sold out a full year in advance, and we will have 40 film locations for Odyssey’s debut in July.
The Mandalorian and Grogu, the huge screen debut of the massively popular Disney+ former TV series from Director John Favreau, who crafted the film with cutting-edge technology specifically for IMAX screens. Dune Part Three, the next installment in Denis Villeneuve’s franchise and the first of the series shot with IMAX film cameras. And next month’s Project Hail Mary, a film for IMAX space adventure that is earning excellent buzz and will screen in IMAX 70-millimeter across 16 locations, an indicator of strong indexing for recent releases.
Highly anticipated family releases in a time when family films are leading the box office and IMAX is capturing a greater box office share of family films than ever before, including Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which we’re hearing is testing extremely well, Minions 3 and Toy Story 5. The previous installments of these films all gross near or above $1 billion, a diverse collection of distinctive and filmbuildr-driven releases that we believe hold real upside from Michael to Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, another strong offering of local language films from around the world, including the eagerly awaited sequel Godzilla Minus Zero from Japan and the Indian epic, Ramayana.
And finally, Barbie Director Greta Gerwig’s Narnia, a pioneering partnership with Netflix that we believe will deliver greater value to our exhibition partners. Furthermore, we are already 60% booked for 2027 with blockbusters, including Top Gun: Maverick and F1 Director Joe Kosinski’s Miami Vice, which will be filmed for IMAX; Star Wars: Starfighter from Deadpool and Wolverine Director Shawn Levy. The film views to be a throwback to the galaxy-spanning adventure of the original trilogy; the Thomas Crown Affair from Academy Award nominee, Michael B. Jordan; Avengers Secret Wars and the Batman 2. And for ’28, we view forward to being involved in Sam Mconcludees’ groundbreaking Beatles, a 4-film event.
With 2 months down in ’26, we feel good about our projected box office for the year as we enter one of the most promising periods. Our global box office in January was up 16% year-over-year. Avatar: Fire and Ash extconcludeed our success with that franchise, earning more than $188 million in IMAX, our sixth highest grossing release of all time and our highest indexing of the series with 13% worldwide.
The Chinese New Year holiday delivered $28 million on the strength of Pegasus 3, our hugegest Chinese title since Ne Zha 2 and we continue to diversify our content slate, securing an agreement with Apple to stream live broadcast of Formula 1 World Championship races to IMAX locations this season and delivering a very successful exclusive opening of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Doc EPiC. We also continue to drive strong system sales and network growth worldwide, particularly in underpenetrated high-value rest of the world markets, where we installed a record 118 systems in 2025. We now work with more exhibition partners globally than ever before, 257 in total last year, up 28% over 2019.
Surging demand for IMAX supported an expansion of our total addressable market to nearly 4,500 total zones worldwide, double our current systems in operation and backlog. To capture that opportunity, we’re executing against a 4-pronged strategy: One, focapplying on high-growth underserved markets. We’ve had tremconcludeous success here, driving our hugegest year ever for sales and installations in Japan in 2025, tripling our network in Australia since 2023 and building strong progress in France and Germany. Second, continuing to unlock new opportunities in North America. Domestic is an engine of growth for us with new and existing partners alike, dispelling the notion that this is a fully mature market.
In 2025 alone, we struck agreements with each of the hugegest exhibitors in the U.S., AMC, Cinemark and Regal, that advance key strategic priorities, including new locations in Los Angeles and New York with Regal and 3 new IMAX 70-millimeter film locations with Cinemark. Third, identifying opportunities to add a second IMAX location in high-performing zones. For all our success with marquee locations in major metropolitan areas, we are still deeply underpenetrated in many, presenting an opportunity to grow within our best market centers. For instance, we have only 5 IMAX locations serving a population of 1.6 million people in Manhattan, including our first new location in 15 years set to open in Battery Park.
And we see a lot of opportunities in metropolitan areas, including Chicago, Boston, San Antonio and San Jose, among others. And lastly, finally, we continue to explore innovative deal structures that leverage our liquidity. Given our strong balance sheet and momentum, we can assist our partners obtain more IMAX into their circuits quickly through upfront capital expconcludeitures that pay for themselves given our strong market share gains and the impressive film slate lying ahead. In sum, 2025 was a transformational record-breaking year for IMAX. We exceeded our tarobtains for financial performance and finished with a strong fourth quarter.
We drove great results for our exhibition partners, breaking box office records as fans, filmbuildrs and studios clamor for more of the IMAX experience. We continued network expansion with significant runway to grow further even as we capture a record share of the global box office. In every way, we’ve leveled up our performance. With an incredibly promising slate locked in for the next several years, we continue to believe the best is yet to come. We’re focapplyd on strengthening our position, executing with financial discipline, providing the most immersive entertainment experience on the planet and delivering for our shareholders. Thank you all. And now I’ll turn it over to Natasha.
Natasha Fernandes: Thanks, Rich, and good afternoon, everyone. In a time of limitless entertainment options and more discerning global audiences, IMAX delivered record fourth quarter and full year results, exceeding our guidance and Street expectations across key measures. Fourth quarter box office was $336 million, up 16% versus the prior Q4 record, driving full year box office to $1.28 billion. We captured a record 3.8% of global box office, up 700 basis points year-over-year, underscoring the increasing value the IMAX platform delivers to exhibitors and to the broader industest. Strong demand for the IMAX experience also drove us to the high conclude of our installation guidance with 160 systems installed in 2025, up 10% year-over-year.
As we keep our focus on delivering value for shareholders from a profitability perspective, our operating leverage resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 45% for full year 2025, above our guidance of low 40s percent. And adjusted EPS reached a new full year record of $1.45, an increase of $0.50 year-over-year. Importantly, these results translated into our highest ever cash from operations of $127 million with cash conversion directly benefiting from the margin expansion. Our standout 2025 financial results once again illustrate the uniqueness of IMAX’s operating model and position as a leading entertainment platform. And we believe the momentum is carrying into 2026 as we view toward the exceptional slate.
With all the major tentpole Hollywood releases still in front of us, many with breakout potential, we believe we are well positioned to achieve another year of strong performance. We expect IMAX box office will build through the year with Q1 representing the lowest box office quarter. Specifically in China, we expect a more balanced year as opposed to 2025, where 46% of China’s box office was in Q1 as 2 of the largest local language titles Once Upon a Time in the Middle East and Penghu did not build it into Chinese New Year and will likely release mid- to late this year, along with there being a more balanced and compelling Hollywood release setup for Greater China.
Taking a closer view at our Q4 and full year 2025 results. We had a strong close to 2025 with fourth quarter revenues up 35% year-over-year, which drove us to a full year revenue record of $410 million, an increase of 16% over 2024’s full year revenue of $352 million. Gross margin continues to grow quicker than revenues, clearly demonstrating the value proposition of our business model, which enables a high level of incremental profit flow-through as we scale our platform and box office growth. Q4 gross margin was at a 58% margin, a 540 basis point improvement over the prior year period, while full year gross margin was $246 million at a 60% margin, up 600 basis points year-over-year.
Looking at our results at the segment level, Content Solutions revenues grew significantly, driven by higher box office with fourth quarter revenues of $38 million or 50% growth over the prior year comparative period and full year content revenue growth of 21%. We have continuously focapplyd on diversifying our content offerings and sought to outperform expectations and 2025 displayed the success of our strategies. Every quarter of 2025 had a different content storyline enabled by our diverse programming strategy. Q1 box office was local language driven. Q2 into Q3, our Filmed for IMAX program delivered some of our highest indexing levels in our history.
Q3 benefited from a diverse mix of local language, horror titles and alternative content, and Q4 anchored the year with large Hollywood tentpoles. Fourth quarter Content Solutions gross profit was $22 million, while full year Content Solutions gross profit of $100 million grew 50% year-over-year, more than twice the rate of revenue, actualizing a proof point of the significant operating leverage in our model. As a result, we delivered a 66% gross margin for 2025, a substantial increase of 1,260 basis points from the 53% in 2024. Turning to our Technology Products and Services segment.
Fourth quarter revenues were up 32% year-over-year with a gross profit margin of 58%, up approximately 500 basis points year-over-year, while full year revenues for this segment grew 16% with a gross profit margin of 57% up approximately 400 basis points year-over-year, driven by higher systems installed under sales arrangements, growth in box office driving a higher level of rental revenues and increasing maintenance revenue associated with the growing network. In the fourth quarter, we installed 65 systems, up from 58 last year.
For the full year, installations reached 160 systems at the high conclude of our guidance, driving 3.5% growth in our commercial footprint, led by 4% growth in our domestic network and just over 8% in the rest of world, a very strong result, reflecting our growth prioritization. We’re expanding in the strongest box office markets, including in the U.S., Japan, France and Australia. Japan grew almost 20%, while Australia more than doubled its footprint. We believe growing in our strongest markets will both scale our platform and meaningfully increase our network productivity. And the engine for future growth remains strong as we completed 166 system signings in 2025, an increase of 28% year-over-year.
More than 25% of the signings were signed and installed in the same year, reflecting the demand by our exhibitor partners to obtain IMAX locations quickly up and running to capitalize on the strengthening IMAX slate. We expect the same dynamic in 2026, given the outstanding film slate in front of us. Turning to operating expconcludeitures, defined as research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, was $29 million in the fourth quarter and $118 million for full year 2025.
Full year operating expenses increased only 1% year-over-year, a much lower rate than the 16% growth rate in revenues, reflecting continued expense and cost discipline that assisted to offset the impact of inflation and continued investment in the business. We will continue in 2026 to focus on optimizing our applys of technology and evaluating work processes to enhance productivity across our business as we aim to crystallize a high level of flow-through to gross profit and to the bottom line.
Included in Q4 results is $22 million of onetime charges, $15 million for the strategic repurchase of over 99% of the convertible notes due 2026 and $7 million resulting from a noncash goodwill impairment of the legacy SSIMWAVE business associated with the monitoring of content quality. We continue to lean in on our core business where we see tremconcludeous opportunity to gain share and expand the network. We have been repositioning our streaming and consumer technology business to enhance our differentiation, particularly in support of live streaming content across the IMAX platform as well as the evolution of our core DMR and system technologies.
With this shift in strategy, we have also been reviewing and optimizing the cost structure of the SSIMWAVE business. Overall, our strong operational performance led to record full year total consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $185 million. Adjusted EBITDA grew 33% for the full year, more than twice the rate of revenue growth, reflecting the operating leverage stemming from higher revenues coming from both box office and system sales. This resulted in an above-expectation full year adjusted EBITDA margin of 45%, up approximately 570 basis points year-over-year and placing us above our full year guidance of low 40s percent. Full year adjusted EPS was $1.45, up $0.50, driven by the strong profit growth.
2025’s results reflect a 28% tax rate compared to 13% in 2024 or a year-over-year headwind of $0.16 per share. No tax benefits were recognized for the onetime charges in 2025, while 2024’s tax rate was unusually low, having benefited from an internal asset sale to more closely align innotifyectual property rights with its global operations. Turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Cash flow from operations of $127 million set a new full year record, exceeding the previous high of $110 million in 2018.
And full year free cash flow, which includes $28 million of investment in the IMAX network through joint revenue sharing systems, was $85 million, which equates to a record adjusted EBITDA conversion of 46% or a conversion of 61%, excluding this investment in network growth CapEx. We believe these results reflect the positive incrementality in our model as well as improvements in working capital, which we expect to continue as box office and our network expands. Turning to investing cash flows.
We continue to prioritize apply of our available capital to invest in the business, including partnering with exhibitor customers to grow and upgrade the IMAX network through joint revenue sharing arrangements, allowing us to benefit from the rising demand for IMAX and the snotifyar IMAX slate in 2026, ’27, ’28 and beyond. Our capital-light model and execution have resulted in a strong capital structure. As of year-conclude 2025, we held $151 million in cash, an increase of 50% from year-conclude 2024 and $289 million in debt with a net leverage of 0.7x. During 2025, we strengthened our liquidity and reduced dilution risk through strategic transactions.
We renewed and expanded our 5-year revolving credit facility to $375 million, adding $75 million of liquidity. And in November, we refinanced our 2021 convertible notes with $250 million of new convertible notes at a very attractive 0.75% interest rate. And through this transaction, we simultaneously retired the vast majority of the 2021 notes with cash of $46 million to minimize dilution. Importantly, we also entered into a capped call on the new notes, raising the effective conversion price from a company dilution standpoint to $57 per share.
Toobtainher, the cash payment for the outperformance in the 2021 notes and the new capped call equates to approximately $70 million, strategically spent to maximize the opportunity for shareholders to benefit from the growth we expect in the coming years and in our view, is akin in some respects to that of a share repurchase. To sum up, we aim to build on the momentum in 2025.
And as Rich shared, the table is set for ’26 and ’27 with mega titles like Odyssey, 2 Star Wars movies, Narnia, Dune and Avengers; beloved proven family content, including Toy Story, Moana, Minions, Shrek and Frozen; large fan-based video game IP such as Super Mario, Mortal Kombat, Zelda and Minecraft; Tier 1 Superhero franchise films around Spider-Man, Batman and Superman as well as potential for new breakout IP like the upcoming Project Hail Mary film, music-centered content like the Twenty One Pilots concert and Michael and new sports ventures such as recently announced with Apple TV for live F1 races.
As we highlighted at our recent Investor Day, we believe we have a clear strategy to continue to expand our entertainment platform in 2026 and beyond to bring the IMAX experience to more audiences. We are focapplyd on deepening our relationships with leading filmbuildrs and building new connections with a diverse array of content creators and studios. At the same time, we are aiming to grow our footprint, box office and productivity of our network along with the value we can bring to our exhibitor partners.
As we have revealn, the growth in box office and our increasing network scale will positively impact our bottom line and cash flows given the incrementality in our financial model and our laser focus on keeping operating expenses as flat as possible. Given these dynamics, we expect to drive total adjusted EBITDA margin to over 50% in the coming years. That’s why we believe IMAX’s position has never been as strong. We are focapplyd on executing on the significant opportunity in front of us to deliver on our guidance and expectations for 2026 and beyond and to drive ever-increasing shareholder returns. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for Q&A.
Operator:[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Omar Mejias with Wells Fargo.
Omar Mejias Santiago: Rich or Natasha, can you give us an update on the state of the Chinese box office and the early start to the Chinese New Year? We saw Pegasus 3 start very strong and outperform initial expectations. But just curious on how is the overall health of the market and the slate ahead.
Richard L. Gelfond: So Omar, I don’t believe you could take 10 days and talk about the state of the Chinese box office. I believe when you view at China, Chinese New Year was kind of, I’d call it a B slate this year and very similar to the slate in ’24. And what happened was there were a number of titles that were supposed to open for Chinese New Year, and they slipped and they weren’t done in production, and they shiftd them to this summer. So I believe that’s what accounted for kind of modest results during that period of time.
But I believe in — the summer will be better than we believed it would be becaapply we believed those movies will have played earlier. So I believe the result is more a matter of timing than it’s the result of any trconcludes in the Chinese box office.
Omar Mejias Santiago: That’s very assistful. And maybe my second question on local language and alternative content. You guys had a record year in 2025 with over $400 million in box office, recently announced a new deal with Apple to air F1 races. And based on your investor presentation, it views like you have a huge slate ahead. So how much runway does IMAX has to drive local language and alternative content box office alongside Hollywood content? Is there a certain limit to the growth of non-Hollywood content box office?
Richard L. Gelfond: Well, I don’t believe we believe about it in that way, Omar. I believe we test and program the best content for a particular market throughout the year. So I believe one thing you’re questioning is, are you too stocked with Hollywood films where you can’t do a lot of foreign language films. But again, it depconcludes when things are scheduled, how they’re performing. We might slide something in if something is underperforming or shift something if it’s overperforming. But there are a couple of very huge international films this year. One is called Ramayana, which is an Indian film that the director and producer are preparing for global release later this year.
And again, I don’t believe anybody stated, well, we have Ne Zha this year last year. So you just don’t know how they’re going to break out. But I believe there’s enough runway and enough space to accommodate more in number of international films — local language films than we had last year. And we’re pretty comfortable with how they view at the moment going out. I believe that’s going to continue to be an important part of our business.
Operator: Our next question comes from Eric Wold with Texas Capital Securities.
Eric Wold: A couple of questions on kind of just pricing. I know it’s kind of come up in the past, Rich or Natasha. I know you can’t directly control ticket pricing with your exhibitor partners. But can you talk about what you’ve seen maybe over the past year, kind of maybe an average ticket price increase for IMAX revealings as exhibitors view to take advantage of kind of this shift in moviegoer demand? And does any expectation for additional increases play into your box office outview for ’26? Or could that be an incremental upside driver if they do kind of play into that demand with additional price hikes?
Richard L. Gelfond: So I’m not sure what the numbers were for ’25, Eric. But I do know that for ’26, we’ve been — again, we can’t notify the exhibitors what price to charge. That’s their decision. But I believe given the strength of the slate and especially the number of event films coming out this year, like Mandalorian, like Dune 3, like Odyssey, that there is potential to — for price increases in there. And I believe, especially if you also view at the film releases coming out, I mean, historically, the exhibitors charge the same for film as they charge for digital and even coming out soon is Hail Mary in about 16 film locations.
So I believe there are definitely instances where I believe you could push the price higher. And if we ran theaters, we would certainly do that. And I’m hoping that at least where there are films in great demand, of which there are a lot this year, that the exhibitors would choose to test that.
Eric Wold: And then just a follow-up on that. As you build out some of these emerging markets that are maybe a little bit newer to IMAX screens and build them out, can you talk about what you typically see with the exhibitor partners there on their pricing? Do they tconclude to be a little more conservative given the consumer may not be fully aware of the IMAX product as much as more developed markets and then kind of ramp pricing from there? Or do they tconclude to be, I don’t want to state aggressive, but maybe as aggressive as other developed markets at the obtain-go?
Richard L. Gelfond: Well, we provide them as part of the sales process with what the IMAX premium is in different countries around the world. So I mean, they’re aware, and that’s one reason they purchase in becaapply they understand the price premium. And they understand it more as a percentage than an absolute number becaapply obviously, in India, the premium — the ticket price could be different than it’s going to be in Japan. So they have the tools to do that. And I believe the trconclude we’ve noticed is depconcludeing on the countest, they charge a similar premium than they would somewhere else. So that’s not really an issue. I believe they understand how to maximize their profit.
Operator: Our next question comes from Michael Hickey with StoneX.
Michael Hickey: Rich, Natasha, Jennifer, congrats, guys, on amazing development. First question, Rich, just on your film cameras, really remarkable run here you’ve had with centers in ’25 and obtainting 16 Oscar nominations is really remarkable and one battle for another as well, which I believe was on your digital cameras…
Richard L. Gelfond: Sorry, Mike. We received like over 50 Oscar nominations overall.
Michael Hickey: Totally. I just focapplyd on centers, but you’re right. I mean it’s truly incredible. And ’23 was Oppenheimer. This year, you’ve received Odyssey, you received your next-gen cameras with Odyssey, which are quieter and lighter. One, I guess, how do you know — I’m curious how you’re going to answer this, Rich. How do you know the right films to pick? Becaapply some are obvious, but when you view at something like centers, I mean, that was not obvious. And obviously, that’s been an incredible success. How are you — and I’m sure it’s an ecosystem thing, but how are you approaching and finding the right films to pick?
When you have this consistent level of success, obviously durable, what opportunities? Obviously, we see a lot of them, but I imagine your phone is ringing more than ever, there’s installations, maybe a better opportunity to scale more of the 70-millimeter film opportunities or just relationships with filmbuildrs, talent and your competitive moat overall? Just sort of curious how this builds your overall opportunity over time.
Richard L. Gelfond: So Mike, it’s a perfect time to question you that question becaapply I’ve been out in L.A. for over a month right now. And I’ve been meeting with filmbuildrs, I’ve been meeting with studios. I’ve been meeting with producers, and you’re quite right, the demand is very elevated from over it was before. So I’ll give you a couple of categories of answer, like something that never would have happened years ago.
But like well-known filmbuildrs who you know will approach us and will state, I want to do an IMAX film and they’ll actually do like a pitch and they’ll come in and they’ll notify us why — what it’s about and why they want to do it in IMAX and why it’s important to them. And that’s a category — obviously, I can’t state who. But last week, we received pitched by some very well-known filmbuildrs, and it’s a little bit off the beaten track. So if someone had sent in a script, we might not have been interested, but we are interested becaapply it was very unusual. It doesn’t fit in a box.
Another way, which I believe is really important is the relationships we have with existing filmbuildrs. So one example would be we’ve done a lot of films with Joe Kosinski over the years. And then he did Top Gun: Maverick and obviously, it was a huge success and a huge success in IMAX. And then we did F1 with him, which is not as well-known IP, obviously, and it became one of our top films of the year. So Joe is working on his next project, which is Miami Vice.
And he came to us and then we started talking to him about the different opportunities to shoot in IMAX and different tools, and we’re still working our way through that. And then it will be studios who will state, by way of example, Warner knows they’ve received 30 Oscar nominations. So they’re viewing at their slate, the people who run the studio, and they’re going a filmbuildr and they’re stateing, hey, have you believed of shooting this with either IMAX film or IMAX digital cameras? So there’s a lot of opportunities that come in.
And I believe maybe the most promising one is the filmbuildrs who worked with us before and film for IMAX and their desire to apply IMAX technology. So there are a lot of ways, but having spent the last month with a level of meetings that I’ve never seen before and the types of talent coming in and executives, there’s lots of projects coming in. And without spconcludeing much more time on this, if you don’t know the filmbuildr that well, you view at their reputation, you view at other things that they’ve shot and what it views like. A huge thing for us is — the filmbuildrs is also leaning into the IMAX of it all.
And a great recent example of that was Ryan Coogler and Sinners, as you probably remember, he built a pamphlet about aspect ratios. He talked a lot about IMAX everywhere he went, and that really assisted a lot. So it’s all of the above.
Michael Hickey: The second question, huge film for you, Narnia, very important film, very important partner. And I believe if anyone you sort of crack here, it seems like [indiscernible]. Just curious, as you continue to [indiscernible] or whoever on the team you’re talking with, do you obtain the sense that they’re more motivated, Rich, to build this movie. Do you also feel like that there’s a hugeger opportunity maybe in the future with this model that you’ve created here, which obviously was smart or maybe your normal model, you apply your cameras.
I believe just to I guess, sort of your excitement for Narnia, the input from Netflix and the future opportunity you would see with that really for yourself and the broader.
Richard L. Gelfond: So the first point, Mike, is that we build movies with filmbuildrs and studios or streamers are part of the system. So Greta, as you know, came to us becaapply she was excited about releasing it in IMAX. And toobtainher, we planned to talk this through with Netflix and brought Netflix into the fold. So the most important thing is that Greta is incredibly excited. And when she believes about how to build the movie and she believes about the sets and she believes about the magnitude and scale, she really leans in. And it’s too early to see a rough cut. But from conversations with her, I believe she’s building a movie that’s going to view fantastic in IMAX.
And that’s the thing that probably builds me the most confident. In terms of the business model, I mean, Netflix has approached us about a number of projects since we did that deal with Greta. And some of them we did under different sorts of models like Frankenstein with Guillermo del Toro and a number of other things over time. And we’re always talking to them about different ideas. My hope when I did this deal was this model is going to work so well, and I’m not talking about only the box office. But remember, the point of it is to create a buzz and a cultural event.
And I believe when Greta releases this in IMAX, it will be a cultural event. And I believe they’re going to obtain the benefit from that of increased streaming hits after that. Remember, it’s a series of books. It’s not a one-off, and it’s going to assist build an event. And I believe that’s what we really do. So I’m very optimistic that when the IMAX audience sees that movie, there’s going to be the kind of reaction, which is going to lead to a number of good things.
Operator:[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Chad Beynon wit Macquarie Capital.
Chad Beynon: You guys at the Investor Day and reiterated today, talked about the high single-digit, low double-digit growth through ’28 and hopefully beyond. I believe a huge component of that is that underpenetrated rest of world opportunity that you’ve spoken about. So Rich, what do you believe the main catalyst is at this point? The business model builds more sense every year for these exhibitors. You’re clearly putting up the results, local language is working. So what’s the next inflection point to grow the pipeline for that rest of world?
Richard L. Gelfond: So when you view at the slate going ahead this year, and I believe the financial returns that follow for the exhibitors. For us, we’ve talked a lot about that. But for the exhibitors, I believe it just builds so much sense. And obviously, exhibition has had its challenge in its traditional industest. And I believe it’s certainly viewing for growth opportunities for its network and its strategy. And I believe they view at their box or someone else’s box next door that’s selling out and is obtainting very attractive paybacks. I believe that’s going to have a huge influence.
And applying some examples for markets in Japan in 2025, the per screen average was up an enormous amount from 2024. So the returns to the exhibitors are much more attractive. So it probably doesn’t surprise you that there’s a lot of activity coming out of Japan in ’26, and our team was over there and there’s a fairly large number of deals under discussion. Also, Avatar really did extremely well in certain areas like France and Germany, where it was among the leading markets in the world and numbers that were a step modify over the previous year. So there’s a lot of activity this year, inquiries coming out of France and Germany.
So I believe in general, it’s viewing at performance and testing to replicate it and bring it forward. But then you add some kind of obvious things like the slate this year, and there’s lots of movies, as I stated in my prepared remarks, whether it’s Mandalorian or whether it’s Odyssey or whether it’s Dune: Part Two. And I believe people want to obtain open in advance of that. The people who opened before Avatar, we viewed at the number, I don’t recall, but I believe we opened like 27 theaters right before Avatar opened.
And you view at the performance of those theaters by being open for Avatar, their ROI and their payback period were far superior to what would have been if they waited. And our team around the world is applying that data and sharing it. And I believe that’s what’s assisting create a catalyst. We’re also being a little bit more flexible, as we talked about in our prepared remarks, in applying some of our capital in different places in the world where we know the results are really terrific. So I’ll apply Japan again as an example. But the numbers were so strong and compelling. The payback periods are fairly short and the economics is very good.
So we’re seeding some of those markets by applying a compact amount of our capital to assist jump start them. So I’d state all of that.
Operator: Our next question comes from Steve Frankel with Rosenblatt Securities.
Steven Frankel: Rich, you had a huge install quarter in Q4. Given the demand situation, how much more can you ramp your team and to take that to another level?
Richard L. Gelfond: Yes. It’s just a question of timing, Steve. So if you question me how many we could install in the fourth quarter? The answer is an awful lot becaapply it’s like — analyze it like a supply chain. So can you order the parts in advance? Can you do the designs? Can you deploy the teams? So sort of in any given year, it’s a much larger number than we’re doing now. If you stated to me, people want to open for Hail Mary in 3 weeks, it’s more difficult to do that. But over the longer term, I never applyd the word infinite, but you certainly could open a lot more if you wanted to.
There’s not much constraint on that.
Operator: Our next question comes from David Joyce with Seaport Research Partners.
David Joyce: Given that you’ve received a lot of cash on your balance sheet now, how are you seeing your mix of sales versus JRSAs this year? Given that you’ve received more of that cash and it’s a strong box office here, how are you believeing of the relative ROI between those approaches?
Natasha Fernandes: David, we see it as a lots of opportunity for us to apply our balance sheet, and we talked about it at Investor Day as well, but the opportunity to view at those top-performing zones and could we assist the installation go quicker by essentially seeding the money, as Rich was just talking about and in return, obtainting some sort of modify in our deal type as well or modify in our economic — our standard economics so that we could obtain that return as well, but have the theaters open earlier. And I believe that, that’s the opportunity that we have with a strong balance sheet with our liquidity position sitting at $550 million.
It is a significant opportunity in front of us to roll out our backlog at a quicker pace and also view at more opportunities. And we talked about it at Investor Day of second screens or top-performing locations, flagships. And so we believe that while we view at not only investing in our business with respect to our own technology and the way that we operate in the Filmed for IMAX program, and we invested in cameras. There’s also the opportunity to view at expanding the network. And I believe what’s been great is this past year, we expanded our domestic network by 4%, and we expanded our rest of world by over 8%.
And so we are applying our capital in the right way right now, and we see the ability to ramp that up.
Operator: Our next question comes from David Karnovsky with JPMorgan.
Kiscada Hastings: This is Kiscada Hastings on for David Karnovsky. I just want to question on STL installs and upgrades this year. Is there any insight you can give us on expectations regarding market mix? You’ve been talking about more opportunities in the U.S. and whatnot. Should we expect revenue per install and revenue per upgrade to be relatively stable year-over-year?
Natasha Fernandes: So generally, yes, I believe that we have a standard sort of selling price. Now the opportunity is that the box office grows, and you would have seen it in the incrementality in our model in 2025, the JV systems, we have the ability to capture more box office there and as our box office grows. And so I believe that as you view at the mix, we did guide towards 160 to 175 systems with a mix of 45% to 55% sales to JV mix. So I believe we’re still tracking towards that. That’s what we’ve guided publicly, and we’ll keep working towards that.
I believe the opportunity, though, is viewing at how do we capture more from those JV locations as the box office grows there as well. And that was one of the significant contributors to us not only having the over 45% adjusted EBITDA margin, but also our cash flows that came in at a record level.
Operator: Our next question comes from Eric Handler with ROTH Capital.
Eric Handler: Just sort of a follow-up to that last question. Wonder if you could talk about how you’re believeing about capital allocation at this point. You don’t have debt due until 2030. You should have more free cash flow than last year. How are you believeing about purchasebacks? You’ve had good luck — you’ve had good returns with the JRSAs. Where else can you sort of invest internally that you believe would obtain high returns as well?
Richard L. Gelfond: So Eric, I believe the best place we can invest is in our network growth. And that’s becaapply when you view at PSAs this year compared to last year, when you view at the films that we have in ’26 to slate, but maybe more importantly, you view at the backlog of films in ’27 and ’28, like we have an insight that most operators around the world don’t have, which is we know what our slate is going to be going forward. And we have kind of a unique perspective on how it’s going to perform. And we have a perspective also on how IMAX fits into the ecosystem.
So if we have an opportunity to leverage our network growth or leverage our returns through maybe steering a deal one way or the other way. We believe the releveling of IMAX is probably the best opportunity there is in terms of where to put our money. Now I would also add that people didn’t believe of it this way, but Natasha mentioned it briefly in her remarks. But when we issued our new convert and we took out the old convert, we could have taken out the shares that were in the money in 2 ways. One, we could have given people shares; or two, we could have applyd cash.
And we took them out with cash, which effectively lowered dilution and was analogous to a share purchaseback. So obviously, we’re open to being opportunistic in various ways, but we’re very focapplyd on how to capitalize on our growth.
Operator: Our next question comes from Patrick Sholl with Barrington Research.
Patrick Sholl: Just in terms of installing into like a second screen in a zone versus entering a new market, is there sort of any difference in the return profile or the speed of obtainting to sort of like, I guess, a steady state of PSAs?
Richard L. Gelfond: There doesn’t appear to be a difference becaapply if we’re putting a second theater in a zone where the exhibitor is, it’s — you see a very successful zone and the brand is well known there. So you’re leveraging off of your previous success. And I know we’ve been stateing for a while that we’re going to do more of that. But we’ve actually taken some concrete steps with different exhibitors and identified specific locations where we would put a second screen in and are discussing with exhibitors. And seemingly, they have a more open mind to it than they did in prior years, especially coming off the strong results in ’25.
So I believe you should model it as a similar return profile, but I’d be surprised if you didn’t see some of that materialize this year.
Natasha Fernandes: Pat, the other thing to consider is that we have a very experienced team who is involved in the analysis of the returns on locations and really assessing what is best for the IMAX business. And I believe that’s one thing we’ve proven over the years is that as we continue to expand, we’re expanding in locations that are returning to our bottom line as well. And we do analyze each of our locations as we view through signing new deals, signing upgrades, signing whether it’s second screens or flagships and assessing to build sure that it hits our ROI hurdles.
Richard L. Gelfond: Yes. And I believe I’d also like to remind you that the converts we issued, the interest rate is 75 basis points. So this is a well-priced capital for us.
Operator: Our last question comes from Drew Crum with B. Riley Securities.
Andrew Crum: Rich, I want to go back to the discussion around alternative content and the partnership with Apple TV for Formula 1. It views like the initial launch is U.S. only. Do you have the ability to add international screens? And more broadly speaking, how are you believeing about bringing more live sports into your programming mix? With 2026 being a World Cup year, is that a consideration?
Richard L. Gelfond: Sure. So the answer is the international — your first part of your question with F1, Apple only controls the North American rights. So we built the maximum deal we could have built with Apple. But we are exploring the possibility of viewing at international races, and we are following up on that. But again, that wouldn’t be through Apple. That would be through others, and we announced this in the last 2 days. So it’s a little premature to expand on it yet. But yes, we would be interested in finding a way to expand that. In sports, we’ve been offered a lot of opportunities in all kinds of different sports. But sports is complicated.
It’s received to be the right formula. It’s received to be the right match with the IMAX experience. These rights issues, as you know, are very complicated and expensive. So you’ve received to model it through and see which sports have a good return and which don’t. We have had some discussions about the World Cup. But again, there’s interesting issues there becaapply the finals of the World Cup are on the same weekconclude that Odyssey opens. So it’s not — you can’t just stick your finger in the air and state, “Oh, that would be a good idea.” There’s complicated issues around all of these. But again, there’s a lot of interesting things going on and stay tuned.
I believe some of them will come to fruition.
Operator: I’m not revealing any further questions. I’d like to turn the call back to Rich for any further remarks.
Richard L. Gelfond: Yes. So thank you very much, operator, and thank you all for joining us. I really appreciate people who have invested in us for a period of time becaapply 2025 really brought the pieces toobtainher. And as a management team, we had high hopes and we always believe that all the pieces could come toobtainher and put us in a new place. And I’ve attempted — the quantitative results are evident in what we reported. And the qualitative ones are less evident to you. But if you were living my last month in L.A., they would be equally obvious to you.
And it’s very gratifying to be seen as a different company in such an important position, not only in Hollywood, but around the world. And I believe our job is to build sure that we apply that place and we apply our momentum to continue the growth rate and maybe even build it higher and really capitalize on where we’ve come into and building sure that we take full advantage of that opportunity. And thank you all for joining us.
Operator: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today’s presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.
Should you purchase stock in IMAX right now?
Before you purchase stock in IMAX, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to purchase now… and IMAX wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that built the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix built this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommconcludeation, you’d have $556,335!* Or when Nvidia built this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommconcludeation, you’d have $1,160,572!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 975% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 193% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 14, 2026.
This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. Parts of this article were created applying Large Language Models (LLMs) based on The Motley Fool’s insights and investing approach. It has been reviewed by our AI quality control systems. Since LLMs cannot (currently) own stocks, it has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your apply of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company’s SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.
The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Leave a Reply