Imax CEO Rich Gelfond urged calm amid “noise around tariffs, China, and speculation about the potential impact on the Hollywood slate.”
Imax has a division in China and heft exposure there. In opening remarks on a call after first quarter earnings, Gelfond said “the fundamentals of our business have never been stronger” but “that fact has been obscured” in recent weeks, since China said it would “moderately” limit the number of Hollywood films it accepts in retaliation for mind-boggling tariffs the Trump administration has imposed on Chinese imports to the U.S.
“We’ worked deeply at this issue. We talked to every studio and our industry partners throughout China, cultivated across our 30 years of doing business in the country. and we’re highly confident that the, quote, moderate reduction in Hollywood imports announced by China Film Administration will largely target films with limited box office potential in the market, a smaller budget kind of fare, not the kind of films that drive Imax’s business. So we’re not letting the noise distract us from the opportunity ahead.”
The company posted its best Q1 global box office ever.
Thunderbolts from Marvel Studios opens April 30 in China. “That’s been approved,” he said. Disney’s Lilo & Stitch “has just been dated in China … We’ve talked to Hollywood studios and they expect their films to get in. Our contacts in China have told us that any reductions, if there are any, would be less financially” impactful than the usual Imax fare, he reiterated during a Q&A.
“I don’t think the moderate film reduction will have a material effect on Imax.”
Tariffs on Chinese goods, now at 145%, have been squeezing supply chains for U.S. companies and killing the stock market. Shares rallied today as Trump appeared to take a softer stance, then retreated from highs after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that as of yet there’s been “no unilateral offer from the president to deescalate” that trade war.
He doesn’t anticipate any blowback from Chinese consumers who consider Imax an American brand, he said in response to a question. “We have 800 theaters. It’s like a local prestige brand … and it is a Canadian company for those of you who don’t know that.”
