A worldwide theater network expansion helped Imax post $1.28 billion in global box office for 2025, a new company record.
That surpassed Imax’s previous highwater mark of $1.1 billion in global box office for 2019 when measuring ticket sales in North America, China and the rest of the world. Imax, which earlier forecast $1.2 billion to $1.25 billion in gross global box office for 2025, on Wednesday put its record year down to more of its big screen releases shot with its “Filmed for Imax” proprietary cameras and an expanded film slate that includes more local language titles.
“2025 was truly a transformational year for Imax in which we leveled up our performance across our business, capturing a greater share of total box office with a wider variety of releases across an expanding global footprint,” Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax, said in a statement.
“We see no signs of slowing down given a very promising slate ahead and the consistency of our market share gains, as filmmakers, studios, and audiences worldwide continue to gravitate toward the Imax Experience,” he added.
Getting Imax nearer to its 2025 global box office goals was the Chinese title Ne Zha 2, which earned $166.7 million in ticket sales on Imax screens; Avatar: Fire and Ash, which has earned $140 million on Imax screens through Jan. 4 and will continue to play across the company’s global network through the rest of the month; while F1: The Movie brought in $97.6 million in ticket sales.
Last year, Imax recorded a domestic box office take at $449 million, up 14 percent over the previous record set in 2023, while the rest of the world international box office take was $427 million, up 12 percent over the previous record for 2023.
The China box office for Imax came to $407 million last year, up 5 percent over the previous record set in 2019, and the film technologies company had its best local language box office take at $405 million worldwide, up 65 percent from the previous record in 2023.
Imax also had its biggest global market share ever with 3.8 percent of the worldwide box office from just over 1,800 locations in its global network. Last year, Imax released 122 new titles worldwide, and its biggest local language slate with 67 international films released from 14 countries worldwide.
Into 2026, Imax sees continuing box office gains from screening The Odyssey, Narnia, Dune Part Three and The Mandalorian and Grogu as major audience draws. Imax as a provider of premium theatrical screens is also touting itself as a platform for varied and global event content to distinguish itself from the broader exhibition industry as it fended off the impact of lingering pandemic/strike delays and fewer all-audience pics in 2025.
As exhibitors look beyond a disappointing 2025 to better fortunes next year, Imax has forecast a record $1.4 billion in global ticket receipts for 2026.
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