By Janet H. Cho

IMAX Corp. shares rose again on Wednesday, reflecting investors' renewed enthusiasm in the middle of a robust summer movie season.

Shares climbed 1.3%, closing at $44.23, and setting a new all-time closing high for the second straight day and a new 52-week closing high, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The stock posed its largest percent increase since Tuesday, when shares rose 3.3% and set their first new record closing high since June 19, 2015, when the stock closed at $43.22. Shares traded as high as $45.09 intraday, up 3.2%.

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."

On May 26, Handler noted that IMAX was reportedly exploring a potential sale through intermediaries, according to media reports, saying that "having carved out a strong position for itself at the center of the Hollywood/theatrical ecosystem, IMAX's brand value has never been stronger."

He said it isn't clear who could ultimately bid on the company. "We do not see either a major Hollywood studio or a movie theatre operator as a logical buyer given potential conflicts of interest," he said.

" Samsung could be an interesting candidate, given its expanded interest in cinema with its Onyx LED rearview projection system," Handler wrote at the time. " Netflix could be a wildcard as IMAX would provide the streamer with a premium global platform to attract more big name directors who want a theatrical window for their movies while offering a high profile launching pad for a select number of its titles (and potentially for some of its live events)."

With its strong balance sheet with no debt other than its $250 million convertible note, "private equity could also take a look at the business."

IMAX stock is up 19.8% this year through Wednesday's close, and up nearly 52% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 Index is up 8.4% year to date.

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.

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June 17, 2026 19:00 ET (23:00 GMT)

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