00:00So our cover story tomorrow, I hope you read it, is all about the box office resurgence that we've
00:04seen in 2026. Obviously, with the pandemic and the strike, we had a slow in the movie theaters
00:09in the last five years. But now they're saying that this will be the first year domestically,
00:14we're going to get $10 billion gross in movie theaters. What do you attribute this comeback to?
00:20I think people got tired of sitting in their living rooms and
00:24streaming. And they wanted a communal experience and a social experience. And I think the movies
00:30do that. And IMAX does that on steroids. And I think when people see this movie, they'll realize
00:36watching it at home streaming just doesn't even compare. It's like sitting in your kitchen versus
00:43going to a great restaurant. Your kitchen may be good. You may be a great chef. But there's nothing
00:49like having one of the best chefs in the world, Chris Nolan, shoot it in the best format in the
00:55world. And I think that gets people off their couches. And we expect to have a record year
00:59at IMAX. We're on course to do that. And we think this movie, we have record pre-sales in IMAX's
01:06history.
01:07They've never been as high before opening for a movie as they are for the Odyssey. So I think it's
01:12going to continue the trend you're talking about towards a big box office in 26. Colin Farrell calls
01:19it couch fatigue in our story. And I'm stealing that phrase. Isn't that good? Okay. Yeah, it is good.
01:25When you go to an IMAX experience, you understand the difference in about a nanosecond. And I don't
01:32think you get IMAX fatigue. Did you ever think that we would see a movie that's fully filmed in IMAX?
01:37For the last decade or so, I did. Because, you know, Chris Nolan's been one of the best proponents.
01:44And, you know, what he did with Oppenheimer last year, where he filmed most of it, and what he did
01:49in prior years with the Batman series and Dunkirk and Inception. I think this is the trajectory he's
01:56been on. And I think he won't be the only one. You know, after Sinners last year, Ryan Coogler really
02:02had a breakout with IMAX and Denis Villeneuve with the last Dune and this Dune. So I think it's a
02:09trend that's going to keep moving forward. What is your next odyssey in terms of pushing forward
02:15IMAX's presence in the Hollywood film industry? You know, is it expanding more screens? You know,
02:20because when movies come out like an Avengers and a Dune, you know, you're having two big movies.
02:25Like, what is your goal for the next 10 years of IMAX? I think a lot of things. Our goal
02:30would be
02:30to increase the footprint. We're still less than half penetrated where we could go in the world.
02:37We're 91 countries. We'd like to go to more of them. Next year, we have four movies in which
02:45they're released on film prints. And for Odyssey, we have 41 film theaters versus 30 for Oppenheimer.
02:53So keep expanding the film print. And I think keep using technology to make the experience better and
03:01better for audiences. There's no magic here. You offer something really great, they will come.
03:06Do you think we'll see more IMAX 70 screens? Because I know with this one, it's sold out for such
03:10a long
03:11period of time. Do you think like a New Yorker can see a second one? Or will we get one
03:14in smaller cities?
03:15Is that the goal? Yeah. So we're sold out in some theaters into the fifth week already, which is
03:22and the 2 a.m. shows, the 7 a.m. shows. So there's certainly more demand. The problem is they
03:28haven't
03:29made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years. So we retrofit them, we rebuild them. And part of our
03:37strategy is to see how far we could take it. But certainly demand driven, I like to see more.
03:43Wait, so you can't build, I've never, you can't build more projectors because the technology is?
03:49Well, we could build, we build new projectors every day. But film projectors using this film,
03:55it's not practical. So we've got to find them and we've got to retrofit them and rebuild them,
04:01which is what we did for Odyssey. But, you know, can all 2,000 of our theaters be film projectors?
04:08No.
04:09There's just not that many all around. But I think we can continue to grow it.
04:12Well, I have faith you guys are doing tremendous work. Is it true that you're entertaining a sale?
04:18What does that future potentially look like? Yeah, we don't comment on that. There's a lot of M&A
04:23activity going on in the industry, as you know well. So I think, you know, people are looking
04:28to put stories together, but I don't have any comments on that. You don't think it'll affect
04:32the critical mission of IMAX? You guys are going to continue and do your best work moving forward,
04:36no matter what happens above. Well, we're running it like we'll be in it. We've been an independent
04:41company for over 50 years. So we're running it like we'll be an independent company for the next 50
04:47years. But if the right thing comes along, you know, we're open minded. I appreciate your time,
04:52sir. Thank you so much.
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