Imax has been in an enviable position since the great box office reset.

It’s no secret that movie theater attendance has languished in post-pandemic years. But when audiences have opted to go to cinemas, they’ve gravitated toward premium moviegoing options like Imax to distinguish the big screen experience from watching a film at home. To wit: Imax saw record ticket sales of $1.2 billion in 2025 even as the overall box office was down 30% from pre-COVID times. And the technology company is targeting a bigger benchmark of $1.4 billion in 2026 with help from tentpoles like Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” which were shot with its proprietary cameras.

Imax’s success in an industry with few success stories hasn’t gone unnoticed. Buyers have circled as the company’s profile has risen in recent years. But Imax was reluctant to engage in talks, believing it was best to operate independently, according to knowledgable sources. However Imax leadership’s attitude has shifted in recent months and the company is in the early stages of exploring a sale, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Imax has yet to publicly comment on its deliberations. But at an investor meeting last December, CEO Richard Gelfond hinted the company might be in play, saying Imax would be an “incredibly valuable player, either as a wholly differentiated publicly traded company or as part of a larger company with the keys to unlock even greater value and are strong business worldwide.” Gelfond recently returned to work after taking a temporary medical leave in March to recover from a serious case of pneumonia. Insiders note a potential sale is unrelated to Gelfond’s health scare.

Analysts believe Imax is seeking a buyer to help expand its global footprint, and it’s doing so now to capitalize on its status as one of the movie theater industry’s lone reliable bright spots. Moreover, there’s frustration that Wall Street isn’t giving Imax enough credit in terms of its share price. Imax’s stock is nearing $40 a share after the news broke about a potential sale, but the company hovered in the $20 range for much of 2025.

“If Imax is considering a sale of the company, [it would be] because the company’s valuation doesn’t reflect the gains made since the pandemic,” says analyst Eric Wold of Texas Capital Securities. “Box office market share and revenues are exceeding pre-pandemic levels — unlike most others in the exhibition space — and yet the valuation multiple is lower than it was prior to the pandemic.” 

Wold adds “a benefit [of selling] could be the ability to accelerate growth and come back to the public markets at a later date when valuations are stronger.”

Part of the problem, Gelfond has previously lamented to Variety, is that Wall Street values Imax like its a cinema chain, such as AMC Theatres, which is mired in debt. Yet Imax, which doesn’t own theaters, has a relatively healthy balance sheet. The company makes money by licensing its technology — including screens, sound systems and projectors — to exhibitors.

For the amount that Imax contributes to the box office — 5.2% domestically and 3.8% globally in 2025 — there aren’t that many of its premium venues across the globe. Imax currently has 1,865 locations in 91 countries, compared to the some 200,000 screens in the world. Consumer demand for Imax has been further fueled by blockbuster directors like Nolan and Villeneuve, who rhapsodize about the experience of watching their films on the biggest and brightest screens. Imax has developed such a following among cinephiles that some have resorted to traveling great distances or settling for ungodly showtimes to avoid missing out on the fun.

There’s always a risk that expanding too much could diminish the appeal of Imax, which has been deliberate about scaling of resources and programming of films. Yet sources at Imax suggest the company could double its worldwide footprint to meet demand, without over-saturing the market. It’s expensive for exhibitors to install those screens, but the pitch is simple: think about all the extra box office dollars.

Imax’s market cap is about $2.1 billion, meaning it’s a manageable acquisition for most major companies. But who is the right buyer? Potential players could include Hollywood studios, live entertainment companies or private equity.

In terms of studios, Sony makes sense because the company has already invested in exhibition with the purchase of Alamo Drafthouse. Meanwhile Disney produces many of the spectacle-heavy adventures and superhero epics that populate Imax screens. But both companies are already reaping the rewards of Imax. Do they really need the headache of owning the company outright? Paramount and Warner Bros. are about to merge, and CEO David Ellison has signaled that theatrical is central to its strategy. Would it make sense for the new mega studio to control the dominant brand of PLFs? Or will the joint company be too leveraged to pull off another deal?

Meanwhile tech giants like Amazon or Apple offer virtually unlimited resources and have ambitions in the film space. But operating a cinema company could be too far afield from their main sources of revenue, which are smart devices and retail.

Then there’s live entertainment companies, which are already working with Imax on concert films and other forms of alternative content. However, a sale to any studio or live entertainment company could create concern of giving preferential treatment to its own films or events. That could alienate rivals, who could hold back their movies and artists. There’s already a tense jockeying among Hollywood players to secure the limited number of Imax’s premium screens during competitive times of year for moviegoing.

“While it may be difficult for one of their studio partners or exhibitor partners to acquire Imax and then control the network, we could see one of the large streaming companies or entertainment companies use Imax to further penetrate the premium space of the market,” Texas Capital Securities wrote in a recent report, while noting that it could see Netflix and AMC Theatres as potential buyers. “International companies could make sense given the increasing use of local language content.”

Venture capital firms could help with growth while avoiding the conflicts of interest that studios or exhibitors would face. But finding the right partner will be important. Imax won’t want to get into business with a company that’s looking to cut costs and make a quick exit from its investment.

For now, Imax’s potential change in ownership could spark more questions than answers. Another one is whether a sale would spur other consolidation within exhibition, a sector that’s been relatively quiet post-COVID. If Imax lands a big deal, other theater companies will probably start calling their bankers.