IMAX Passes $1 Billion At Global Box Office in 2018

IMAX theaters grossed more than $1 billion worldwide for the first time ever in 2018. While 3D screenings reached new peaks of popularity in the wake of Avatar's financial success in 2009, the craze has since died down and been increasingly eclipsed by IMAX at the box office. IMAX Entertainment Senior Executive VP/CEO Greg Foster even acknowledged that 3D is "no longer the default" back in August 2017, and that's become all the more evident over the months since then.

Movies like Black Panther and Ready Player One got 2018 started on a strong note for IMAX, even before mega-blockbusters like Avengers: Infinity War and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom arrived on the scene. The company is finishing its year on a robust note too, thanks to Aquaman's massive global turnout in IMAX theaters. As it happens, the company has already set a new benchmark for its highest-grossing year in 2018, with more than a week left to go.

Per its announcement, the IMAX Corporation has officially passed $1 billion at the global box office for the first time this year. That total includes both Hollywood tentpoles and $100 million from local-language films released in China, Korea, Japan, Russa, and India (another record for IMAX). IMAX Ceo Richard L. Gelfond issued a statement as part of the announcement, saying "This IMAX box office record indicates that blockbuster content experienced in the best premium environment is bigger than ever before”. Here are the official rankings for 2018, based on their IMAX box office grosses:

TOP 10 IMAX FILMS OF 2018 (based on global IMAX box office performance)

Avengers: Infinity War
Black Panther
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Ready Player One
Aquaman
Venom
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Ant-Man and the Wasp
The Meg

TOP 10 LOCAL-LANGUAGE IMAX FILMS OF 2018 (based on global IMAX box office performance)

Operation Red Sea (China)
Detective Chinatown (China)
Dying to Survive (China)
Monster Hunt 2 (China)
Hello Mr Billionaire (China)
Project Gutenberg (China)
Shadow (China)
Detective Dee 3 (China)
Along with the Gods (Korea)
Padmaavat (India)

While ticket prices have continued to steadily rise with each passing year, moviegoers seem more and more willing to pay extra for the IMAX experience. It helps that filmmakers have (on the whole) been inclined to embrace the format by shooting their movies partly or fully with IMAX cameras, and going the extra mile with their project's audial designs to ensure everything sounds great on IMAX's enhanced audio system. Streaming services aren't actually killing theater attendance like some have believed, but theater chains do have to compete with vastly-improved and more affordable home entertainment equipment nowadays. However, multiplexes featuring IMAX screens can fairly argue they're offering a viewing experience that simply cannot be replicated at home.

IMAX is already projecting an equally big (if not bigger) box office turnout in 2019, with Gelfond claiming "As studios and streaming companies keep focusing their slates on more blockbuster films, particularly in 2019, we see a strong opportunity to continue as a destination of choice for consumers". With tentpoles like Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame due to hit IMAX in the first half of 2019 (followed by films like Disney's The Lion King remake in the summer), the company has a good shot at reaching the same box office milestone next year.