An Imax private screening for the movie “First Man” at an AMC theater in New York on Oct. 10, 2018.
Lars Niki | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Shares of premium theater company IMAX jumped after the closing bell Thursday following a report that it’s exploring a sale.
A source familiar with the company told CNBC that it has held “preliminary talks” through intermediaries, but no official pitches have been made by the company.
IMAX’s longtime bankers occasionally test the waters for potential interest, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the potential sale process. The stock was up roughly 10% in extended trading.
CEO Rich Gelfond recently returned to work after taking temporary medical leave to undergo treatment for pneumonia. Gelfond told shareholders back in December that he was open to a potential sale of the company.
He said at the company’s investor day that IMAX is “an incredibly valuable player, either as a wholly differentiated publicly-traded company or as part of a larger company with the keys to unlock even greater value and our strong business worldwide.”
“We’re very excited about all of those possibilities. And we’re going to run our business to maximize value in every possible way,” Gelfond said.
IMAX has become the premiere vendor of premium experiences in the theatrical space. Last year, the company generated a record $1.28 billion at the global box office, a more than 40% increase over 2024 and 13% higher than its previous record set in 2019.
Meanwhile, premium large format, or PLF, screens continue to grow in popularity. In 2025, PLF screens accounted for 16.3% of domestic ticket sold, averaging $16.88 a piece. That’s up from around 14% of tickets sold in 2021 at an average of $15.42 each, according to data from EntTelligence.
