Premium Cinema Experiences Drove Strong Oct. Box Office: Analyst
The top 10 films showing at North American theaters last weekend had sales of $92.8 million, 1.5% above the same weekend in 2019, led by Dune at $40.1 million, Colliers analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Monday. He noted a “clear…
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sign of shift to premium viewing experiences,” with Dolby, Imax and house brands generating half of the weekend’s domestic box office; Imax pulled in $9 million. Imax crowed that it set a new global October record at $100 million, surpassing the previous record of $84 million in 2013, with one weekend left in the month. Wedbush's Michael Pachter scaled back estimates for Imax Q3 revenue, in a Monday investor note, slicing $10 million off his previous estimate to $55 million and the full-year estimate to $226 million from $253 million. Gross box office on Imax screens ended at $142 million vs. Wedbush’ $158 million projection in Q3, due to “softer domestic results” after the delta variant “dampened the summer box office return.” China refused to play Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in the quarter, Pachter noted, affecting results, but late in Q3, China’s “nationalist title Battle at Lake Changjin made up the difference." The COVID-19 delta variant also “pushed exhibitors to delay installations in 2021,” Pachter said. The analyst expects Imax to return to its normal installation run-rate next year, driven by upgrade and growth projects with AMC in Europe and the Middle East, with Wanda and other exhibitors in China, and with exhibitors in Japan and Korea.