Why IMAX Stock Crushed the Market on Monday
Key Points
A splashy movie drove audiences to the large-format cinemas.
Imax posted the highest-grossing second weekend in its history by showing the epic.
- 10 stocks we like better than IMAX ›
Several thousand years after his exploits became famous, Odysseus continued to bring the goods for IMAX (NYSE: IMAX) on Monday.
With the continuing excellent financial performance of Christopher Nolan's monster-budget The Odyssey, the movie exhibition and technology company's shares bumped almost 4% higher that trading session. This was in marked contrast to the flat-lining S&P 500 index.
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Journey to the box office
In its second week of release, The Odyssey continued to be a popular, but as an epic designed with scope and scale in mind, it was really popular at IMAX theaters. Monday morning, the specialized entertainment company announced that such cinemas raked in $48 million in ticket sales for the film worldwide.
Image source: Getty Images.
This makes the latest adaptation of Homer's familiar story the highest-grossing weekend for IMAX showings of a movie in its second week of release. It also ranks No. 3 on the all-time list of highest-grossing IMAX weekends for any film.
All told, in those two weeks of release, The Odyssey has collected $140 million in global IMAX box office sales.
IMAX quoted CEO Rich Gelfond describing the popularity of the Christopher Nolan-directed movie on the massive screens as "staggering."
He added that the high-profile director "has crafted the type of masterwork that draws our biggest fans back to experience it two or three times -- while introducing entirely new fans to IMAX -- and we are only beginning to see the impact that will have on our brand and business."
Inaugural visit to the big, big screen
And that's what impressed investors. Not only is the film drawing experienced IMAX-goers to theaters to experience the millennia-old tale, it's also drafting first-timers into the format. I don't blame investors at all for being bullish on IMAX's future, given that dynamic.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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