Imax Corp. reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.
The film exhibitor reported earnings of 30 cents per share for the three months ending June 30. That was better than analysts’ consensus expectation for 26 cents per share, according to a forecast on Yahoo Finance. The earnings were improved compared with the 15 cents per-share earnings the company reported during the same period a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter was $98.3 million, according to the company’s quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Revenue was just under Wall Street’s expectation for $98.8 million, but above the $87.8 million in revenue the company reported last year.
“Not only are studios emphasizing blockbuster-type content, consumers are increasingly seeking differentiated ways to experience that content,” said Imax CEO Richard L. Gelfond in a statement. “We believe Imax is uniquely positioned to benefit from these trends, especially with the roll out of our new Imax with laser experience, which we expect will further increase the differentiation of The Imax Experience.”
Imax said its global box office hit $343 million in the quarter, which was a 28 percent increase compared with 2017. It also marks the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of box office growth.
During the quarter, Imax said it installed 31 systems, 30 of which were for new theater locations, bringing the company’s total network to 1,410 systems as of June 30.
While on the company’s quarterly conference call with analysts and investors, Gelfond praised subscription services like AMC Theaters’ recent AMC Stubs A-List program. Gelfond said he was encouraged by the services and how they could increase foot traffic to Imax — AMC’s service doesn’t have an up-charge for the premium platform.
“Overall we believe these types of programs could improve the Imax footprint,” Gelfond said on the call. “These subscription services, which vary from exhibitor to exhibitor, have been successful in Europe for years and we look forward to how they can benefit our network here.”
AMC launched its subscription program in June, offering movie-goers three tickets a week for $20/month. The move came after months of battling with MoviePass, whose $10/month plan to see a movie-a-day was deemed “unsustainable” by AMC, which accused MoviePass of devaluing the movie-going experience.
When AMC announced the new program, execs there hoped Imax and other premium formats would be a big draw for consumers.
“We think that the demand is going to be tremendous,” Gelfond told TheWrap at the time. “The ability to get premium tickets and for Imax in particular will be a big part of the marketing efforts for this plan and we do plan to support that plan. I expect that we will be seeing an increase in attendance immediately as this plan rolls out.”