By Janet H. Cho
IMAX Corp. shares rose on Tuesday, reflecting investors' renewed enthusiasm in the middle of a robust summer movie season.
Shares climbed 3.3%, closing at a fresh all-time closing high of $43.71, in its largest percent increase since June 10, when the stock rose 5.2%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It is the stock's first new record closing high since June 19, 2015, when it closed at $43.22.
The stock rose hours after BFI Imax, the largest screen in the U.K., reported selling 28,000 advance tickets in 24 hours for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, grossing GBP750,000 (more than $1 million), according to Deadline. The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, the first film shot entirely in 70mm on IMAX Film cameras, opens in the U.S. on July 17.
Hollywood's domestic box office sales of $4.17 billion through Sunday are about 13% ahead of the same point last year, and the summer box office since May 1 is outpacing last summer by an estimated 11%, according to Rentrak.
Universal Pictures' Disclosure Day , directed by Steven Spielberg, grossed $44 million in domestic box office in its opening weekend and an estimated $92.9 million worldwide, including $13.8 million on IMAX screens.
Lionsgate's Michael , about the King of Pop Michael Jackson, sold another $4.3 million last weekend. The film has grossed $362.8 million domestically, and $932.2 million globally, including $65.2 million on IMAX screens.
Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak's head of marketplace trends, expects both the summer and full-year domestic box office to be the biggest since 2019. He told Barron's that "the summer of '26 is running just 3.5% behind the Avengers: Endgame-powered summer of '19."
Eric Handler, senior media and entertainment analyst for Roth, raised its overall second-quarter domestic box office forecast last week, and now says "the year has the potential to approach a post-pandemic high of $9.9 billion."
Roth estimates that IMAX's second-quarter box office has surpassed $234 million, up 5.7% from last year and nearly 80% of the way toward its recently revised forecast of $296 million. Still ahead in the second quarter are Toy Story 5, and Warner Bros. Pictures' Supergirl, opening June 26, which was filmed for IMAX.
Dergarabedian said that Walt Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, opening Friday, is expected to set a franchise-high debut, with the potential for over $150 million at the domestic box office. It is also expected to do well internationally, screening on more than 1,600 IMAX screens worldwide, including in China.
"July looks especially strong for IMAX, which aside from The Odyssey includes Minions and Monsters, (opening July 1), Moana (July 10), and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in select international markets," Handler wrote. "China's local language war epic, Peng Hu (July 25), bears monitoring as it is generating significant buzz in its home market."
IMAX stock is up 18% this year, and up nearly 50% over the past 12 months.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2026 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)
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