13:38 PST 3/4/2021
by
Etan Vlessing
The exhibition screens in Japan fetched $ 26.8 million from ‘Demon Slayer’ and the gross gross national holiday increased by 25 percent compared to 2019 in China.
Imax generated lower revenue during the fourth quarter compared to the pre-pandemic in 2019, but a boom in the Asian box office helped the giant screen exhibitor to a continued hit for its North American theaters of the COVID-19. to offset crisis.
Imax on Thursday posted a loss attributable to shareholders of $ 21.2 million, compared to a previous year’s profit of $ 18.2 million, and the adjusted loss per share was 21 cents, compared to a gain of 35 cents per share in 2019.
Total quarterly revenue was $ 56 million, compared to $ 124.3 million a year earlier. During the most recent quarter, Imax, while delayed by the delayed release of tent poles, and operating lower-capacity North American movie theaters, made huge profits from the revival of the Asian film industry.
Imax raised $ 26.8 million from Demon Slayer playing on its screens in Japan and had a strong holiday season at National Day Gold Week in China. ‘As the world’s only global entertainment platform, we are encouraged to see that the public is eager to return to the films where the virus is under control and they feel safe, and this promising trend is reflected in our constant financial improvement since the beginning of the pandemic, “said Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, in a statement.
North American exhibitors will weigh in on the latest Imax results as they look forward to a spike in their own movie theaters following the pandemic, later this year or in 2022, due to pent-up consumer demand.
Gelfond told analysts during a phone call after the market that the continued explosion of vaccines and a slew of Hollywood tent poles would reach the multiplex later this year and forecast for the exhibition industry until 2022. “We believe the world will look very different in a few months. In light of this progress, we still see a lot of promise in the second half of the year,” he argued.
Gel Fund was asked how the COVID-19 crisis could have a lasting impact on the film watching the pandemic. “Consumer behavior is not going to change in a significant way,” he told analysts as the Asian recovery of the box office highlighted how people return to the multiplex when they feel safe.
“When they can go out, they will go out,” the Imax boss said of moviegoers and other consumers as pandemic security increases. Gelfond added that the concept of the pent-up demand for movie work was real.
“If you look at other areas that have opened up like China and Japan, it was not a switch, it was a tap, and you have to prepare the pump on the way,” he told analysts. As the pandemic disappeared and Americans no longer had the need to take refuge in their homes, Gelfond also predicted an emerging box office in North America.
“The US is feeling safer pretty quickly and it will even accelerate. We all need to be patient and ready and plan our strategy to market the change and make sure we follow the right films,” Gelfond insisted. to a continuing domestic industry reopening.
To boost its balance sheet amid the pandemic, Imax said it was selling its strategic stake in Maoyan, a key Chinese ticketing platform, for $ 17 million. Imax acquired the interest two years ago to work with Maoyan and find out about the marketing, publicity, distribution and digital rearrangement of their film page.