Cinemas may be dying. But IMAX and the high end are thriving
IMAX’s success points to a growing niche in a shrinking industry
The box office has a bad case of long covid. Worldwide takings last year were a quarter below their pre-pandemic peak. Americans, who went to the cinema more than five times each in 2000, last year went fewer than three times. As streaming services keep audiences glued to the small screen, theatre chains including Cineworld, the world’s second-largest, have entered administration.
Yet the biggest of the big screens are thriving. IMAX, whose screens are as large as 38 metres (125 feet) wide with denture-rattling sound systems, had worldwide box-office takings of $1.1bn last year and its biggest-ever haul in America and Canada. On February 27th IMAX reported that its annual revenue was up by a quarter, and it expects to install up to 150 new screens in 2024.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Go big or go home"
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