Imax broke its box-office records in China over the Chinese New Year weekend, and the results predict what will happen when more US movie theaters resume operations this summer, CEO Rich Gelfond told CNBC on Tuesday.
The company, which produces immersive movie experiences, said it had brought in $ 25 million between Friday and Sunday, up 45% from a pre-pandemic record.
“It tells you [that] if it’s safe to go out and people want to go, they run to go to the movies, ”said Gelfond, who appeared on“ Closing Bell ”after the trade for the day on Wall Street ended.
Detective Chinatown 3, a comedy adventure postponed last year since the launch of the Lunar New Year, generated a large portion of Imax’s ticket sales over the three-day period. The film grossed $ 23.5 million, the best results Imax has ever seen for a Chinese film. The action movie “A Writer’s Odyssey” and “New Gods: Nezha Reborn” animation also helped Imax achieve both gross attendance and gross sales.
Imax shares that came off the news were up more than 6% on Tuesday, the best day since November. The stock closed at $ 19.85 and is up more than 5% after closing.
Imax admitted more than 1 million people to theaters in China on Friday, the best one-day attendance ever. The results come despite capacity constraints that still apply to entertainment venues in China. The $ 25 million that Imax raised at the box office was better than what it saw during the similar opening week in 2019, which preceded the coronavirus pandemic.
Most theaters in China have a 75% capacity restriction, while parts of the country with higher broadcasts of Covid-19 are limited to 50%. US theater restrictions vary by state. Restrictions range from 25% capacity in Minnesota to 50% in Indiana to 100% in Alaska, according to data maintained by the National Association of Theater Owners.
The seven-day holiday of the Lunar New Year ends Wednesday. Theaters were shut down in China around this time last year when the country was shut down in response to the fast-spreading virus first discovered in Wuhan city in Hubei province in late 2019.
The movie rush was fueled by the traditional travel season in China being largely delayed due to restrictions on the corona virus. With travel plans canceled, millions spent time in the cinema.
Gelfond said Imax had expected a strong turnout in China this weekend.
“I think all you can say is it’s a bottled up question, people just got tired of sitting on their couch and, you know, watching streaming or whatever they were doing,” he said. “I think they’re just happy to get out, and I think it’s foreshadowing the rest of the world.”
Amid the pandemic, Imax’s operating income declined 74% in 2020 through September from the first three quarters of the year before. The company will report fourth quarter and full year 2020 performance next month.
Gelfond said in December that US film releases in 2021, including a series of films delayed from the original releases last year, would bring “a disgrace of wealth” for Imax if theaters in the country open early in the year.
For the movie industry at large, mainland China generated sales of 6.77 billion yuan, or $ 1.05 billion, as of Tuesday for the holiday week, according to online ticketing platform Maoyan Entertainment. That figure surpasses the record 5.9 billion yuan brought in during the same period in 2019.
Since its theaters reopened in June, box office revenues have increased. The number of cases of coronavirus has suddenly declined in countries such as China, Australia and South Korea, and the sale of cinema tickets has increased.
Global cinema ticket sales fell 70% in 2020 from the year before. Asia-Pacific ticket sales accounted for approximately 51% of global sales, up from 41% in 2019, based on information from Comscore and Gower Street. The US and Canadian checkout accounted for only 18% of sales in 2020, up from 30% in 2019.
Reuters contributed to this report.