With premium cinema offerings being the talk of CinemaCon 2023, IMAX weighed in with an earnings report for the first quarter of 2023 that beat Wall Street analysts expectations. The premium large format giant saw USD $86.9 million in revenue, outpacing the expected USD $78.5 million previously anticipated. This represents earnings of 16 cents per share and a gross margin of 57.6%. All of these figures are up for the same quarter year-over-year.

With studios releasing a steady stream of tentpole titles IMAX took in USD $273.4 million in box office during the quarter from 22 films. This includes the grosses for “Avatar: The Way of Water” (USD $109.1 million) as well as local language titles which account for 30% of the company’s box office. IMAX also had a record Chinese New Year, attracting USD $61.3 million from titles during the 26-day period. Indeed, 31% of all IMAX revenues came from China during the first quarter.

The IMAX footprint grew slightly since the same quarter last year to 1,711 screens in 87 countries, comprised of 1,631 commercial multiplexes, 12 commercial destinations and 68 institutional locations. There are 375 IMAX screens in China.