Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    56,118.71
    +1,185.39 (+2.16%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,338.05
    +12.12 (+0.28%)
     

IMAX China's Fast X Makes Record-Breaking $8.3M Debut Weekend

IMAX's IMAX China subsidiary had a fantastic start to the 2023 summer box office season with the highly anticipated release of Universal's Fast X. The film made an impressive debut exclusively on IMAX screens in China, generating $8.3 million in its five-day opening. This marked the largest opening weekend for a foreign film for IMAX China this year, which accounted for 11% of Fast X's total opening gross in China on only 1% of overall screens.

The opening Saturday also coincided with May 20, the popular Internet Valentine's Day in China, known as the “520 Festival Effect”. Fast X earned $2.6 million on that day in IMAX, making it the highest-grossing single box office day in China this year. Notably, nine out of 10 locations during the film's opening weekend were IMAX theatres.

Following its successful start, Fast X is expected to maintain its strong performance on IMAX screens in China. It will be followed by several highly anticipated films, including The Little Mermaid on May 26, The Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse on Jun 2, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts on Jun 9, The Flash on Jun 16 and Lost in the Stars on Jun 22.

IMAX Corporation Price and Consensus

IMAX Corporation Price and Consensus
IMAX Corporation Price and Consensus

IMAX Corporation price-consensus-chart | IMAX Corporation Quote

Partnerships to Aid IMAX’s Top Line

IMAX recently entered into various partnerships across the globe. These expansions are due to the cooling down of macroeconomic conditions. People started to return to theatres with Avatar: The Way of Water, which became IMAX’s highest grossing movie last year.

IMAX recently announced an expansion of its longstanding partnership with Kinepolis for eight IMAX systems across Europe and North America. The company collaborated with EVO Entertainment for eight new IMAX locations across Texas and Florida and Cinemex for six new IMAX locations in Mexico. The company also signed an agreement with Galaxy Cinema for two new IMAX locations with laser system in Vietnam.

With the release of big movies like The Flash, The Little Mermaid and Lost in the Stars, IMAX’s revenues are expected to rise. These highly anticipated movies encourage viewers to come to the newly opened theatres and boost IMAX’s top line.

The company expects to record $1.1 billion in global box office for the year 2023. It also expects adjusted EBITDA margin in the mid 30s range.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IMAX’s second-quarter 2023 profit is pegged at 21 cents per share, indicating year-over-year growth of 200%. The consensus estimate for 2023 revenues is pegged at $374.44 million, indicating a year-over-year increase of 24.48%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, IMAX carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shares of IMAX have gained 2.6% year to date compared with the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector’s increase of 7.9% in the same time frame.

Cinemark CNK, Crocs CROX and DraftKings DKNG are some better-ranked stocks from the broader sector which investors can consider.

Shares of Cinemark have gained 94.5% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cinemark’s 2023 revenues is pegged at $2.92 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 19.08%. The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at 52 cents per share, which has increased by 8 cents over the past 30 days.

Shares of Crocs have declined 1.3% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Croc’s 2023 revenues is pegged at $4.03 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 13.24%. The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $2.96 per share, which has decreased by 23 cents over the past 30 days.

Shares of DraftKings have declined 22.9% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DraftKings’s 2023 revenues is pegged at $3.2 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 42.97%. The consensus mark is pegged at a loss of 29 cents per share, which has increased by 13 cents over the past 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Crocs, Inc. (CROX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

IMAX Corporation (IMAX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Cinemark Holdings Inc (CNK) : Free Stock Analysis Report

DraftKings Inc. (DKNG) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research