IMAX is headed for its best year on record as it capitalizes on Hollywood's box office rebound

IMAX is rapidly gaining market and poised for growth in the coming years

In this articleIMAX your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTGeneral atmosphere during an IMAX private screening for the movie "First Man" at an AMC theater in New York City on Oct

Lars Niki | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesMore than a year before "F1: The Movie" would eventually hit theaters, Apple struck a deal with IMAX

Two other films released this year have exceeded 20% market for the company — Warner Bros. ' "Sinners" and Paramount's "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. "It's a sign of strength for IMAX's place in the rapidly evolving film industry

IMAX has long been a coveted destination for theatrical releases, but as consumer tastes continue to shift toward premium experiences, it's quickly gaining market and poised for exponential growth in the coming years

Wall Street analysts expect 2026 will be even better. "Post-pandemic a lot of activities, especially event activities, have really done well [for] premium brands," Gelfond told CNBC. "You look at concerts, ticket prices went up

Premium seats have gone up

You look at sporting events, same kind of thing

I think people, although they enjoy staying at, ing and watching ing ducts, when they go out of the, they want something sufficient distinguished from that. "Investors have rallied behind IMAX stock

The company doesn't just screen movies, many of the films that appear in IMAX were shot using cameras and nology developed by the company specifically tailored to the IMAX viewing experience. "This year, we have eight movies in a row in North America that were filmed with IMAX cameras, and typically the box office goes higher when you shoot with the cameras," Gelfond said. "And there's a couple reasons for that

One, it's a better way of watching it and listening to it

But also, the filmmakers typically get behind it more, and they tell their audiences that it's the best way to see their work

And I think that's a powerful impetus for audiences to go to IMAX. "These "filmed for IMAX" titles include features Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" films and even the "Mission: Impossible" flick from Tom Cruise

Tickets to see a film in IMAX typically cost a few dollars more than standard movie tickets, which can help to boost a box office haul. "The more 'filmed for IMAX' titles, the more outperformance you seen on the film for IMAX titles," said Alicia Reese, analyst at Wedbush. "The better the margins are going to be

As you see margins imve in 2025, you're going to see not just better quality title signings in 2026, but what I expect to see is that the studios will take more ownership of the marketing campaigns with even greater upside. "General views of the TCL Chinese Theatre moting the new Tom Cruise film 'Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning' in IMAX on May 23, 2025 in Hollywood, California

Aaronp/bauer-griffin | Gc Images | Getty ImagesRoth's Eric Handler said that IMAX has a "high-class blem of too much content availability. "The "F1" deal for three weeks of screen gramming meant that Universal's "Jurassic World Rebirth" got edged out: the film missed out on a domestic IMAX release and was only on IMAX screens in China

That film will also appear in IMAX screens in Japan next month

Warner Bros. ' "Superman" hits theaters Friday, and coming soon is Disney and Marvel's "Fantastic Four: First Steps. " Then Universal's "Wicked: For Good" arrives ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and Disney's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" hits theaters just before Christmas. 2026 kicks off with Amazon's "ject Hail Mary" and will also feature a new Avengers film, the first theatrical Star Wars release since 2019, a sequel to "The Super Mario Bros

Movie," a -action "Moana" as well as "Toy Story 5" and "Shrek 5. " And also in the mix is Nolan's next feature film "The Odyssey. "New Hollywood releases are just one piece of IMAX's box office success. "Not only are they benefiting from Hollywood's recovery, they're also taking advantage of the global foot and showing local language movies in China, in Japan and South Korea and parts of Europe," said Eric Handler, analyst at Roth

He noted that "Ne Zha 2," a Chinese release that has generated more than $2 billion in global ticket sales, was a particularly strong local language film for IMAX

And there's still room for IMAX to grow

He said the company would more specific details during its earnings report, which is due to be released later this month. "We signed almost as many new theaters this year as we signed for the whole year last year," Gelfond said. "So there's a lot of growth. "Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.