The Compound and Friends - Is IMAX a Screaming Buy? With Rich Gelfond

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

IMAX is about 4% of the world's screens and routinely delivers 20% or more of opening weekend on the films that matter most. Rich Gelfond has been running the company since 1994. On this episode of Live From The Compound, Josh Brown and Michael Batnick are joined by Rich to discuss: how IMAX became the format studios build their biggest movies around, the Christopher Nolan relationship and the Odyssey rollout, why there aren't more IMAX screens if demand is this strong, and where the next dollar of profit comes from. This episode is sponsored by Betterment Advisor Solutions. Learn more at https://betterment.com/advisors Sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Compound Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and never miss out! Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-compound-media/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Investing involves the risk of loss. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be or regarded as personalized investment advice or relied upon for investment decisions. Michael Batnick and Josh Brown are employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management and may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this video. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Management. The Compound Media, Incorporated, an affiliate of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ritholtz Wealth Management⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. The information provided on this website (including any information that may be accessed through this website) is not directed at any investor or category of investors and is provided solely as general information. Obviously nothing on this channel should be considered as personalized financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. See our disclosures here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/podcast-youtube-disclosures/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and tax efficient. The client experience is consistent and exceptional. Explore what segmentation can do for your firm today. Lower your operational lip, but keep your standard of service high, all with Betterment Advisers Solutions. Your biggest regret will be not doing it sooner. Learn more at betterment.com slash advisors. Thank you, Nicole. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to live from the compound. We have a very special guest here. I've never seen Michael. I've seen you this excited once. Eli? Eli Manning is here. But you're very very very, very special guests here. But you're very special. Very, very, very excited today. We have a very special guest.

Rich Gelfand has been CEO of IMAX Corporation since April 2009 and a director since 1994 when he and Bradley Wexler acquired the company. He previously served as co-CEO with Wexler from 1996 to 2009 and as co-chairman from 1999 and 2009 before IMAX, Gelfand worked as an investment banker and M&A attorney. That's your official intro, but I actually had something a little unofficial in mind. Are you okay with that? Well, you didn't mention that I'm a better quarterback than Eli Banner. Fair, fair.

We did leave that out. What I wanted to say is, I think you preside over a company that right now is among the most important companies in Hollywood. I know you're not literally in Hollywood. But in my opinion, you can tell me if you think I'm right or wrong. I think nothing is more important to the livelihood of the movie business than an IMAX open. And everyone is now figuring it out. I think the stock price reflects that. And I think the casual fan understands that.

And now I'm assuming the executives all understand that. He arrived at that conclusion years ago in talking about your stock. But we'd love to hear from your perspective where you think you sit. Well, I really appreciate you saying that. We have felt that way for a while, and the reason is we consider ourselves very much in the middle of the Hollywood ecosystem. And it's not just Hollywood. It's the global content ecosystem. So we're almost like a curator in a way.

So if you have a big movie and you want it released in a way that it's going to turn into a blockbuster or it's going to break out, I think having an IMAX release is an integral component of that. And we have thought that and our business plan probably since you bought the stock. May 14, 2024, 17 bucks a share. Well, it was even before that was our alliance with filmmakers, our alliance with studios, and again, it's really important to underline on a global basis. So we have 800 theaters in China. You know, we did Nejah in China, which probably no one on this podcast has heard of,

but it did $1.2 billion U.S. a movie. If there's a big movie, we've been in the middle of it. And as that's happened, we've tried as a business strategy to say, how can we use our newfound position to strengthen it and to increase the value of the brand and to make us more integral to the system? And I think that's been happening, as you said, in your question, I think people are waking up now and saying, wow, you really need IMAX in the middle of things.

But I think we've known that for a while. And as I said, it's incredibly gratifying to see it happen. It feels incomplete if there's not an IMAX release concurrent with the theatrical release. It feels almost like how do they not get IMAX screens? And the first time I really started to feel that way was reading press reports about how vociferously Tom Cruise was lobbying for more screens for. for the Mission Impossible two-parter. And they were competing films coming out at the same time.

And he just felt like he couldn't get enough screens. So that's when it became apparent to me. Michael was talking about IMAX. And now I feel like everybody sort of gets it. Well, it's nice of you to say competing for IMAX screens. Tom was on a mission, pun intended. It was Mission Impossible 7. and we had dated Oppenheimer with Chris Nolan

and it was the second week of what they moved into. They weren't there. We picked that date. And the narrative that came out of Paramount, which was distributing the film at that time was, you guys are out of your minds. It's a biopic in black and white about a physicist. Why are you wasting screens on Oppenheimer?

What are you kidding me? And, you know, it wasn't easy to say, stand by our principles and say we committed to it. And, you know, Nolan's really one of few people who will help get us to where we are today. Loyalty is a big deal for us. So when we did it, we felt a lot of pressure around us, but we never flinched. And, you know, I like that even today to stay true to our principles. So one example of something we're dealing with right now is June 3 comes out around Christmas time. And we think it's going to be a very, very, you know, big movie. Deni Villeneu filmed it in part with IMAX cameras. This is going to be the same

amount of prints as The Odyssey. We did great on Dune 2. We saw, Michael and I saw Dune 2 at Lincoln Square here in Manhattan on the 70mm. So it took us two weeks to get tickets. And actually, I think that's about when I first pitched the stock. So you must have known the CEO of the company. Now we do. So, Rich. So no, just to finish this point, so Avengers was supposed to doomsday was supposed to be this summer, and they had some production issues, and they moved it to Christmas time right against Dune. And, of course, they called and said, well, can't you do Avengers? And, you know, can't you do something about Dune?

And I said, you know, we love you guys and we love to do your movie, but we have a commitment. And that's the currency that we're made of. So as a result, we're missing out on Avengers, which I'm sure will be a very good movie. But we're leaning into Dune. and I think we'll do really well on it. Disney said that they want to come out with a large format product.

Do you think that's in response to not being able to get Avengers screens from you? Sure, it is. They've said it. I mean, you know, it's been all over the media, and it's called Infinity Vision. And they put the tickets on sale for Avengers Endgame and maybe Doomsday also. They're bringing back Endgame. and the first place to buy them is this thing, Infinity Vision. But Infinity Vision is a marketing technique.

They're not building new theaters. They're taking existing theaters with an X in them, and they're bundling them, and they're calling it Infinity Vision. And they sort of said, because we can't play IMAX. You know, again, I think consumers will figure out whether IMAX is different than that. And I'm not losing sleep about it. So you guys have had a,

massive impact on the box office year to date. Through 24 days, Oppenheimer, which was a huge movie, obviously, did $264 million. I'm guessing that's just domestic. Odyssey. I'm sorry, Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer. So I'm about to compare. Oh, it didn't do 264. So I'm talking about Oppenheimer. So through 24 days, just for comparison, the Odyssey has done $461 million. You talk about domestic? Domestic. Domestic. Sorry. And Oppenheimer was a massive, massive hit. So you guys. because of the presale and the vision and Nolan filming. Like, you guys have had a massive impact on the increase of this.

I saw that in 2024 that you guys were having, that people were leaning into live events. They wanted a premier luxury experience, which you guys deliver. And at $17, the stock looks super attractive. I said, you guys, and I meant this respectfully, the amount of influence and brand recognition that you have compared to your market cap, was a joke. I thought it was very lopsided at a billion dollars. At $3 billion, I think what Wall Street

is maybe discounting is they don't like uncertainty. And even though 2026 has been a massive year for the box office, you guys can't control what movies come out in 27 and 28. And it's very much transactional. Like if the box office softens, your results will soften. So how do we, how do you, what other levers can you pull? Is there maybe a subscription service? in there? Like, how do you increase your take rate? How do we make more money? Well, I mean, you know, there are no businesses. I would argue that we have more visibility into the future than almost any other business, because if you're a car company, you have zero sales on opening day. If you're IMAX, we have a backlog of theaters that we're installing.

We make that public. We have numbers. We give guidance on that. We also now have a tremendous backlog of films. So we have films committed to us for 28, and we probably have some for 29. I don't know. But in 28, we're doing the Beatles' four movies that Sam Mendys is doing. Bond is coming out.

Are you guys going to take all four? You committed to take more? We did. Because that's a big... What studio is at? Sony. That's a big risk that people want four distinct biopic parts of a Beatles movie. But we figured out a way where they'll be really...

least within a time period where we're protect i'm going so and i'm going too and then well you're from long island and i am and you know i beg my parents to go to shay stadium but i was like 12 years old and they said you're not getting on the i never forgave the sound quality was terrible you didn't miss anything yeah okay did you go well i wasn't born yet okay well that's that was their you know that was their last that was the last straw the beetles never wanted to play live again after that no i didn't know that. They would intentionally flubbed the lyrics or play the wrong chords just to see if they get away with it.

The screaming was so intense that nobody knew the difference. And they said, from now on, we'll focus on studio albums. They never toured America again. I thought it was being on Long Island that turned on. It wasn't Long Island. It wasn't Queens. It was Queens. Yeah, it's Queens.

I could sort of understand. Can't you understand that a little bit? So you know, right, if somebody's working on a blockbuster film that's not going to come out for three years, it's on your radar. So they come to us way in advance. I'll use one example, which was last year F1 came out with Apple, and they released it on IMAX and in theaters. And a year or more before it came out, Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer, and Joe Kaczynski,

the director called me up. And they said we want to do a theatrical release. And we don't have a distributor yet. But it's important to us that we get an IMAX release slot. We want to shoot in an IMAX, so could we make a commitment we IMAX to a certain date? So we went through a lot of what was entail, had a film at an IMAX, and we agreed on a date. Then they went to a distributor and they eventually got Warner Brothers. But we were the first stop, and one of the things that's happened in our evolution is we're getting pitched now directly by filmmakers.

So filmmakers, you and your audience has certainly heard of, come by my office, so we go see them. And they, I mean, people won Academy Awards and say, we're thinking of doing this movie two years out. You know, would you guys sign on to that? And we ask, who's the cast and who's the director and this and that? And we sign up. So the business, like, you know, we're part of the green light process now. And I would say at most of the major studios, and IMAX release is part of the green light. So when a filmmaker goes in there and says, I want to make a movie in 27, they say, I want to release in IMAX, and we'll sit down with the studio and the filmmaker and figure out what date works and how we could pull together the most marketing around it.

And the studios will make marketing commitments. So for the next Mission Impossible, Mission 8, we committed to write when Mission 7 after got done playing. and Paramount agreed to put up a fair amount of money, and they agreed to lean into the marketing, and Tom agreed to lean into it in certain ways. So the kind of short answer to your question is, as we become more important in the ecosystem, we become more integrated and earlier on,

so we have a bigger runway. But the second part of the answer to your question, where are you going to make more money, is we never really had a merchandise, effort. And this year we started and we started small. So for Odyssey, we made popcorn buckets. I don't know if you guys have seen them or not. They look like an IMAX camera. And my team was fairly conservative. So we put $2,500 on sale. And they sold in two hours. So I said, put more on sale. They said, we don't have them. They said, we don't have them. I said, put them on sale and deliver it

whenever you can get them. Yeah. So we sold $2,500 more. in, I think it was like less than an hour. And by the end of this, in China, we put like $2,500 on sale. And I think we sold them in 60 seconds. So we're selling film strips now for The Odyssey. We sold $20,000 in 90 minutes. So I think that's definitely an area where we're going to capitalize. You can't influence ticket prices at all, can you?

No. But that is an example of a place where we can do better? better. So AMC here in New York is charging the same price for an IMAX film ticket as they are for a regular ticket. Doesn't make sense. And as a matter of fact, on Wednesdays, which is half price days, they're selling it for half price. Meanwhile, you could buy them for $1,000 on... Can you talk to Adam and Aaron and just say, hey, Odyssey, if we sell Odyssey a year in advance in an hour, why aren't these tickets $100? I have.

What is his response to that? So he sets the price, not us, but I'm allowed to weigh in. And I've said, that makes no sense. And when I have those discussions with exhibitors, they all say that's a really good point. But, you know, there's a guy in... Well, Live Nation is dynamic pricing now. Springsteen says whatever it's worth is what people will pay for it. And it happens.

It's a guy in Las Vegas called Johnny Brendan. an IMAX film theater, Brendan Theaters, he charges 50 bucks, and he sells out. AMC's charging 14 on Wednesdays. I mean, I can't tell you why they do what they do. And I think once I told Adam, he said the problem is they're sold out for months. I can't go back and recoup that. But hopefully for Dune and other things, that is an area of opportunity. Also, I think you'll see a lot more film prints around films.

So for next year, we haven't announced the names of them. But I think there's a round four that are coming out on IMX film. And, you know, we have 40 theaters now that used film. So that's a really good revenue source. You know, when this film versus digital. Yeah, because you higher occupancy. Film is more expensive. Right.

Okay. Higher ticket price, hopefully, more attendance, higher utilization rates. and, you know, greater buzz, greater indexing from us, which means percentage of the box office. We do a higher percentage of the box office. Are you at the ceiling or can you get above 20? We're at 26. 26.

Right now how you think that can get? I mean, that's healthy. Well, there are both sides, right? It's how many screens it opens on. And what are the regular theaters doing? So we've been higher. We could be higher. But when you're open in almost every screens,

you know, that's pretty high. done over 30 on some movies. But again, the issue is in indexing, it's how much money you make, right, and what your margins are on all of that. So before this open, you'll like this, because what football team do you guys root for? All right, I could still talk to you. If you said the Jets, I was going to walk out of the studio. No Jets fans. Yeah. Only victims. Only my brother, and I hold it against them. But before this open, I got my management team together. And at IMAX, we had an ultimate of 190 for the movie. That's what my film team thought it would do. And I said it would do

over 300. And they said, oh, you're crazy. You're hyping us, this, that. So I went into the meeting and I said, pretend I'm the CEO and pretend I know what I'm talking about and pretend we're going to put a plan together of how we're going to capitalize on that and what we're going to do with it. And they all, you know, the guy's old. They just know what he's talking about. You know, we know what we... So it passed... Today, it'll be close to 300. And we have $40 million in pre-sales.

So if we never sell another ticket, we're at 340, and we've got it playing until September. You know, film theaters, you can't get a ticket at the BFI until mid-September. So I was wrong. I was probably way too low. Do you, um, do you think about,

the success of the sphere as sort of a guidepost. Like, this is something that we know we're undervalued relative to a business. Like, they have one location. You guys are global. They're talking about a second location. It costs them a billion dollars to build one of those, or maybe two billion. Or maybe three. Or maybe three.

You guys have a bigger brand name. I would argue you guys have. you guys have the potential to do more conversions. The sphere can't do any. So you could go into existing theaters and you could say, we're going to retrofit. I was pitching your stock to retail clients as a stockbroker in 2005. I still have my script.

Everything I was pitching 21 years ago turned out to be true, but the share price really hasn't done all that much. So how do you think about, like, why aren't we getting the recognition of a sphere, which became, I think, one of the hottest stocks of 2026. Arguably, more people are aware of IMAX than they are of that. Well, we've done brand studies with NRG, and our brand is on a level of Disney and Nike and

people like that. This is not just us saying, hey, I think it's, and I agree with you that we get very little recognition of what that brand value is in relative monetization, but that's why we're doing things like merchandising. I don't know if you saw we're doing an AV system in China with a company that's going to put it in autos, mostly driverless autos. So we were slow to it, but we are trying to monetize that where we are now. In terms of the sphere, I've been there. I think it's fantastic.

Amazing. Amazing. It's great technology. Again, though, I've heard it costs close to $3 billion. I don't know how you make money at that price. They're licensing some. out now. That's probably a little bit better business model than putting all that money into each one. But, you know, personally, I wouldn't own that stock. I didn't buy SpaceX. I don't put my

finger in the air and say, hey, this is worth $2 trillion, not the way I invest. I like looking at earnings and cash flow. And I think, you know, we're starting to return to the world of reality now, where our stock has gone up tremendously in the last since 24 when you bought it. It's more than double percent. You have a hot stock. That is true. And Michael was very early to it. People that listened to him made a lot of money.

What are the constraints around building more of the 70 millimeter experiences, which obviously is, I've heard you refer to as a Rolls-Royce of moviegoing. I totally agree. I went to see one battle after another in Fort Lauderdale. you guys are located in like an abandoned science museum. Like I was saying to myself, this should be the hottest ticket in Florida. People should be lined up out the door.

I was able to buy same-day ticket for 70-millimeter. That same experience in New York sold out the second you put them up. I don't think people even know that that exists where it's located. Well, they do. We do pretty good numbers coming out of there. I don't think it was abandoned. Maybe it was closed that day. Okay.

I will agree with you. It's not the hottest place in the world. Felt the band. I was just saying to myself, can you imagine a brand new 70 millimeter IMAX in downtown Fort Lauderdale? Forget it. I can imagine one in downtown L.A.

It's called L.A. live. And we converted it on January 1st this year. And the first six months, it did $800,000. The first few weeks, it did more than that. We put a film projector in that. And it's sold out for a long time going forward. The issue is purely economics with more film projectors. So one print at one theater.

So think of the one that shows at 68th Street here in Manhattan cost $50,000. The print itself? The print itself costs $50,000. And the projector is equally expensive. The projector is more expensive than that. Okay. And they were built 50 years ago and they don't really exist, but we're always scavenging and finding more, and I think this is a chance we can do that.

But it can only be in really high traffic locations where you can amortize that cost of the print and make a return on it. So I know everybody says they want it, but the model just doesn't work where you could have a lot of it. How many of the 70-millimeter theaters do you have in the United States right now? I think we have... 25? Yeah, something like that.

Okay. And we have 41 globally. But keep in mind, that's up market. when we did Oppenheimer, we only had 30 theaters. We're up to 41. And we have a clever new idea, which we haven't proved out yet. Well, we might be able to get 10 new ones. Okay.

Could you share or no? No. All right, well, let me ask you this. What are we doing this alone in the box office? Because it's lumpy, right? So can we do next watch parties, for example, during the playoffs? Like, are there other things that you can do to get asses in the seats when the box office is not on fire? Yeah.

All of that. So last year we had 120 pieces of content, which included not only movies. You guys haven't talked about it, but I mentioned at the beginning. Foreign movies, international movies. So big business for us in anime and not just in Japan. We do it in China. Look at that. We're ready.

That's from your slide. These are big foreign films that you guys have been able to. So 24% Kager since from 2019 to 2025. So, you know, that's a big business for us. And it's a big business, not just showing like anime in Japan, but showing it worldwide. This year, there's a big film coming out of India called Rockman. And I think there's a Rockman, too, coming next year. And we're going to open that on a global basis.

So some of these really big ones bleed over. And by the way, there's no theater chains playing them. It's out of the box. And then we've done the NBA finals on a, limited basis in China. Yeah, they do go for it. We've had a lot of concerts. We did a live, stop making sense, concert with David Byrne from the Toronto Film Festival that did really well. We've had events that are, we bring back movies all the time. We brought back Interstellar, and I think it did over $5 million. I went to that. Why do you guys do more than that? Is that the

studio's decision? Like, if you released Pulp Fiction or whatever, like, I would go. The issue is really a marketing cost. So when a movie comes out, obviously, it's on bus stations. P&A? Yeah, and there's planes flying over and all that. So if you have a limited release for one

weekend, it's very expensive to market it. So you really have to do iconic titles. We've done tests with the NHL in Europe where we played a lot of hockey games. I think some there we showed here, some here we showed there.

We did an HBO series where we did some episodes from last year and then this year. And that did pretty well. We're experimenting with it. And we have a couple of really noteworthy projects in the Skunkworks where if you knew about him, you say, wow, that's a big deal. What are you doing with streamers? You guys mentioned in the last call that you're doing something with like the, to eventize the launches.

So I mentioned F1, where we did $100 million. That was an Apple. That was an Apple release. And it was the biggest Apple release ever. They did 600 million. So they recognized having it an IMAX was a big thing. We do a lot with Amazon. We, you know, we'll release a lot of their films.

We did Hail Mary this year, which again did $100 million in IMAX. Really big success. Great movie. With Netflix, we're doing the sort of sequel to Once Upon Time in Hollywood is to directed by David Fincher, written by Tarantino, Cliff Booth, and Brad Pitt stars in... That's going to get an IMAX release. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

I remember Brad Pitt, you know, was the biggest movie he ever did, and he loves IMAX because we help make that, so he's going to promote that. And it's exclusively in IMAX, and then it's running afterwards Netflix streaming. Yeah, yeah. We'll be there.

We'll be there. It's in the sweet spot. We'll go to the premiere. I don't know if you're interested in having us. Can I ask you about... Depends where my stock is and how much you own. Fair. Can I ask you about some Nolan stuff?

Sure. Okay. So I saw it in IMAX, but I didn't get to the 70 millimeter because those were sold out a year ago. So I saw it in like one of the retrofitted theaters that you guys have... A digital theater. Yes. It was amazing. It was the unbelievable experience.

and I think it's a universal sentiment that you're hearing from people coming out of it. You guys worked with Chris Nolan to invent special cameras to allow him to film the entire movie with IMAX. You did some technological stuff where one of the constraints was that it used to be really noisy. You created something called the blimp

so that the actors could look at each other and emote and not have something clicking and worrying in between them. So you went to, great lengths to make this movie. You're almost like a co-producer of the movie at that stage when you're getting that in that deep. What else did you learn from that experience with The Odyssey, both the technological side

of actually filming it and then the release? What do you take away from that experience that's going to be meaningful for IMAX in the future? Well, the first thing is when Chris Nolan asked you to do something. You just do it. You just do it. The camera and the blimp were just part of it. He had a list of 15 things.

He wanted like a parts dump all over the world. So if the projector broke, there were parts nearby. He wanted us to train projectionists. He had a lot of things to do. And we did all of them. And that proved to be a really good thing. We also learned from him that it has a lot to do with the director leaning in. So we did sinners with Ryan Cougler.

and he did an incredible job leaning. And if you remember, he invented this little aspect ratio book, which he sent all over the place. And, you know, Deney is leaning very much into Dune 3. So it's not just the technology. You need the filmmaker to say, this is the way I made it. And this is the way...

And you're thinking about IMAX as they're in pre-production for the film. It's not, oh, yeah, we'll also do IMAX. Yeah, as they frame the shots and as they think about how it looks. And you made a very good point, which a lot of people don't know, is that, you know, part of Chris's motivation for the blimp was getting more out of the actors. Because, you know, think about The Odyssey when Matt Damon went through the singing of the sirens. You know, he was in the middle of a boat, in the middle of the water, strapped to it. I mean, the last thing he needed was a camera that was screeching in his face.

That actually might have killed him. I don't want to give away a spoiler, but he survived it. Worst than the cyrants. So what we're doing now is we're really leaning in to the economics of it to studios and filmmakers. And we're saying, you know, look how long the pre-sales, the tail was, look how long in advance. Everything's sold out. Look at the legs. So, you know, let's talk about that for a second.

So today will be around 300 million in the movie and with the 40 in backlog. And it's going to be around until September. So, you know, someone called me yesterday and said, wow, this movie could do 350. I said, you know, why don't you get a calculator and add up the numbers? You know, that's sort of the bottom of the range. Yeah. You have any thoughts on what's happening in Hollywood with Paramount and Warner? Adam, Aaron just came out in favor of it.

I think so did the CEO of Cinemark. Is that going to be good for the movie industry? What do we think? You know, the future is so uncertain in the movie industry. But the number of prognosticators is not uncertain. There are more and more every week. So remember during COVID, when the prognosticators kind of fueled by Netflix, said no one's ever going back to the theaters.

you know, everybody's going to sit in their living room, chain to the couch with their kids screaming and eating leftovers. You know, the prognosticators, if I could say one thing about them, they've almost always been wrong about the future of the movie business. Like when television came out at radio, that was the end of the movie business, and you could find all the research and the people who said that, you know, I think it evolves and you just don't know

where it goes. So you're right, the loss of Warner Brothers is an obvious, you know, loss on the one hand of some of the creative talent and movies. On the other hand, the introduction of all the streamers in is a source of a lot more content. And as I just told you, with F1 and with Hail Mary, they're both from streamers. They've been among the best content we've had. And David Ellison has promised 30 movies a year this morning. I came out that he said 45-day windows. So, you know, it's more competitive. I remember when, remember Universal had its 17-day S-Fod window.

There are too many pieces that evolve where I can predict and say, this is good or bad, the beginning or the end. I think it's almost organic. And I think it'll depend as much on the merger as the way people respond to it. So one of the settlements I read might happen is they might sell one of the lots off. So, you know, who's the buyer of the lot? What happens there? You know, I think it's too easy to say, you know, it's bad.

I think we'll see. The movie business, as you pointed, is incredibly hard to predict. It's like the stock market. I mean, William Goldman wrote The Adventures of Screen Trade in, I think the 80s, talking about how nobody knew what was going to succeed or not. Matter of fact, in the video that I made when I pitched IMAX for the first time in 20, I said that indie movies are dead. And they were. And I said that you guys are in a unique position because movies are an event. And when there's an event, people go to IMAX. Of course, in 2026,

indie movies are very back, right? Like there's, uh, backrooms was huge, an obsession, monster movie. One of the things that we as moviegoers lost over the last decade, which makes me very sad as a, as a fan are comedies. I think comedies died for two reasons. Josh and I were talking about this. One was cancel culture. And two was these movies. stars were getting like, Apatatis crew was just getting too expensive and the economics were upside down. And people weren't going to the movies. There was that too. I saw the invite a month ago. Did you say that movie? I haven't. Amazing. I know about it, but I haven't seen it. Amazing. I knew nothing about it. And it's the hardest I've laughed in a theater in 10 years. And it was a packed audience.

And there's nothing like being in a theater with other people having that belly laughter. You don't get on your couch. So because movies are back and you would see this. Like, can we get comedies? Can comedies make a comeback? Are they just dead forever? Not that particular comedy, though. They never leave the apartment. I don't know if that's an IMAX.

It's probably not an IMAX. Can comedies as a genre come back? So you reminded me of something when you said you made a movie. So some of our fans, after Odyssey came out, went to a theater, and they built a little Trojan horse on a wagon, and two of them hid in this box in the wagon. And one went in and bought a ticket and snuck the other two in. And then while they were going, the door is open and they fell out the two guys.

So the answer is the amount of creativity is so strong. You know, I'd never say nothing about anything. I think, sure, comedies could come back and succeed. And, you know, you named one of the examples of that. And even what's the one with Glenn Powell, the rom-com he did? Oh, Sidney Sweetie. Sidney, sweetie. Yeah, there are some.

Yeah, it was Sydney, sweetie, right. That one came back. So I think, yeah, there'll be comedies. I'm not sure how many will be in IMAX, because, again, you've got to do big box office. And, you know, IMAX might make a comedy funnier. We know that it'll make a big movie bigger and better. Action comedies.

You guys can even ask. I think one thing that the prognosticators were right about, I agree with you. They're always saying this is the end of whatever. People don't go to the movies anymore. And I think this plays into your favor, actually. They go to a movie. So I remember growing up in the 80s on Long Island,

and if it was raining, we would say, let's go to the movies. And you would go, and whatever was playing, you'd pick something. I don't think people think that way now. I think the way they think is, I need to see that movie. That is an event, to Michael's point. and I want to see it in IMAX.

So I actually think the consumer tastes have changed, and they think about movies as an event. And what better way to experience that than IMAX? Well, I mean, you're leading right into our corporate strategies. We did like a mission statement years ago, and we said rather than people saying, you know, let's go see that movie, we thought people should wake up and say, let's go to the IMAX.

And I know some fans who just think, whatever you're showing because of the way that it's displayed, it's going to be a worthwhile event. My stepson is one of those. Every weekend he's going to an IMAX movie somehow. And that's kind of my dream when they wake up, say, let's go to the IMAX. And I think this time with Odyssey, it's definitely playing out that way. Well, definitely. So I think right now for movies to make it, there's three ingredients. One is IMAX.

I mean, you guys are at the top of the list. Like, when you're on a movie post, you're above the director and the actors. So you're one leg of the stool. The other is the movie star and maybe most importantly is the director. I feel like with Nolan and Deney, like directors are the new movie stars.

People show up to see Paul Thomas Anderson. Yeah, it's great that DeCaprio is in the movie, but they're there for the director. I think you're partly right. I mean, definitely with Chris and with Deney and PTA also, but he has a smaller base. You know, you could count on one half. Pan, you know, showing up for the director and how well they do.

Spielberg, Scorsese. There's a list. Spielberg and Scorsese. But, yeah, those movies, you know, kind of cap out at a lower number. So I think they'll get you something. But I think you need a really good movie. You need the star also. And IP.

Yeah, an IP. Looking to 2027, like, I think Zelda's going to be a monster. Yeah, I'm at, I forget the director's name. He's very cool. He's a great guy. That's an example. The guy called me out of the blue, like about a year ago. And he said it has to be an IMAX.

And I... It's the legend of Zelda, which is the Nintendo IP. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. That guy did the last Planet of the Apes movie, I believe. Yeah, it's a great example. And, you know, we met... That's next year?

That's next year. What else do you have? We have the new... It would make it easy for you. Thomas Crown Affair? This is not an IMAX, unfortunately. Thomas Crown is film. Primax, there's a new Star Wars, and I know you're rolling your eyes because of Mandalorian.

But this one, I was on set, Ryan Gosling. It reminds you the Harrison Ford kind of Star Wars. I think it's going to be a big movie. Frozen is out next year. Minecraft will be big. And then there's some. The sequel to Avengers is out next Christmas at the end of next year. I think Dune's going to play in to next year.

Chinese New Year, this year, A lot of movies weren't made. Next year, a lot of movies were made. So I think we're going to do very well. It's hard for me to read that thing. The mummy. Frozen 3, great beyond. So this is visibility.

You don't know which of these will be the biggest hits. Oh, Shrek 5. Strike 5 is going to be a monster. Yeah. You don't know which of these are the biggest hits. Manna tomorrow would do. But you know you're going to have product that people want. And most of them already signed up.

We know the dates. It's already dealt with. That's why I was saying in, response to your question before that it's not a predictable business. I think it's more predictable than almost any business because we know the theaters are in backlog we're installing. We know the movies that are coming out. You know, we have great visibility. We don't know the box office, but you guys like this. It's like the market. You know, I have 120 pieces of content. If you have enough diversification, you know, you're going to hit on some and you're going to miss on some. But you can

You know, last year we guided to $1.2 billion, and we came in, I think, around $1.3 billion. This year, we guided to $1.4. And I think at the moment, we're about $300 million away with seven months to go, maybe a little bit more. But, you know, we have good visibility. So I heard you respond to a Bloomberg reporter earlier this year. There were rumors going around about IMAX being for sale or being acquired or whatever the case may be. And you said, if there's something to say, I'll say it, you know, but right now there's nothing to say, I can't believe that you haven't been bought out yet. Given how long

IMAX has been around, how big the brand is, the point that Michael made, the brand versus the market cap might be one of the most lopsided situations like that in the whole stock market. I know you're not going to tell us, yes, we're selling the company, but like, you must get offers, I don't know, every week, every month? Or is it not that way? There have been people kicking the tires over a very long period of time. And, you know, if someone puts the right number out there,

like I told Bloomberg, you'll be the second stop on the tour if you like. But, you know, we just don't talk about... I mean, you know, the best thing that's happened to this company is that it didn't sell 10 years ago because we've said we have so much promise in it. and we run it to maximize shareholder value. And if someone comes along, you know, at a blow away price, we'll talk.

But we're not actively, you know, seeking out anybody. Okay. You're not asking people, hey, what would you pay for this? But you're listening if people come to you. I think I answered the question. Yeah. Okay. No, fair enough.

Understood. Would you ever get into making your own content now that you've had this taste of working directly with Nolan? Well, we do. I mean, as you know, we make, we used to make whales, seals, and bear documentaries. Now, we did one with Amazon, which is very interesting. We did Blue Angels with Amazon, and we opened it fairly wide, and then it went on the streaming service later. Then we brought it into the institutional market after that.

So we make those kinds of movies. I think, you know, your question is more about commercial movies. I think you'll be very interesting. It'll be very interested to see what happens with Cliff Booth because it's being released exclusively in IMAX theatrically. So, you know, like with alternative content, I like doing things and seeing how the world reacts. And then we'll see. Okay. Anything else?

I'm good. This has been so much fun for us. We're fascinated by the story, obviously the stock price. but more importantly, the amazing content that you guys continue to put out. We just think it's such an interesting company, such a fascinating story, and we really appreciate the chance to ask you questions about it. Well, thanks. It's my pleasure. There's never been a better time to talk about it.

So good timing, guys. I agree. Thank you so much. Thanks to everyone for watching. Thanks for listening. I guess IMAX.com for more information. Sure. All right.

Go to imax.com to learn more and see that whole. whole list of upcoming films and more. So thank you guys so much. Hey y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfar. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit wayfair.ca.