Imax broke its box office records in China over the Lunar New Year holiday weekend and the results tell what will happen when more U.S. film theaters start work in the summer, he said. CEO Rich Gelfond told CNBC on Tuesday.
The company, which carries immersive film experiences, said it raised $ 25 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 45% increase from a pre-pandemic record.
“He tells you [that] when it’s safe to go out and people want to go, they’re going to run to go to the movies, ”said Gelfond, who appeared on“ Closing Bell ”after trading ended for the day on Wall Street.
“Detective Chinatown 3,” a comedy adventure postponed from last year’s Lunar New Year’s release, created a huge chunk of Imax ticket sales in the three-day period. The film raised $ 23.5 million, the best results Imax said he had ever seen for a Chinese film. The action film “A Writer’s Odyssey” and animation “New Gods: Nezha Reborn” also helped Imax reach both full presence and high sales.
Imax shares coming off the news gathered more than 6% on Tuesday, the best day since November. The stock closed at $ 19.85 and is up more than 5% after hours.
Imax admitted more than 1 million people to theaters in China on Friday, the best one-day attendance on record. The results come despite capacity levels that are still in place on entertainment venues in China. The $ 25 million Imax collected at the box office was better than what it saw during the comparative opening week in 2019, which preceded the coronary virus outbreak.
Most theaters in China have 75% capacity limits, and parts of the country that see a higher transmission of Covid-19 are limited to 50%. U.S. theater restrictions vary by state. Restrictions range from 25% capacity in Minnesota to 50% in Indiana to 100% in Alaska, according to data held by the National Association of Theater Owners.
The seven-day Lunar New Year holiday ends Wednesday. Theaters were shut down in China at this time last year as the country closed in response to the rapidly spreading virus first detected in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan in Hubei region.
The running of the film was inspired by the traditional travel season in China which was partially halted due to coronavirus restrictions. With travel plans shattered, millions spent time at the movies.
Gelfond said Imax expected many people to vote in China over the weekend.
“I think the only thing you can say is that it’s a pent-up request, that people are just tired of sitting on their courts and, you know, watching a stream or whatever they did, “he said. “I think they’re just happy to find out, and I think it transcends the rest of the world.”
Among the pandemic, Imax’s industry revenue fell 74% in 2020 through September from its first three quarters the previous year. The company is expected to report fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 performance next month.
Gelfond said in December that U.S. 2021 film releases, including a slate of films that had been canceled since last year’s first releases, would be a “shame of wealth” for Imax, if houses- open the country play early in the year.
For the film industry as a whole, 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 is at the top of the record high of 5.9 billion Yuan imported in the same period in 2019.
Since theaters opened there in June, box office revenue has been climbing. Coronavirus cases have declined sharply in countries such as China, Australia and South Korea, and film ticket sales have been on the rise.
Global film ticket sales fell 70% in 2020 from the previous year. Asia Pacific ticket sales accounted for about 51% of global sales, up from 41% in 2019, based on information from Comscore and Gower Street. The U.S. and Canadian box office accounted for just 18% of sales in 2020, down from 30% in 2019.
– Reuters contributed to this report.