IMAX Corporation announced today that the worldwide IMAX box office cume for 2018 has surpassed the $1 billion mark, representing the first time in its history the Company has achieved this milestone.

The gross included a mix of Hollywood tentpoles as well as 26 local-language films from China, Korea, Japan, Russia and India. The local-language films generated a combined box office of more than $100 million, marking a new local-language full-year record for IMAX. Said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond.

"This IMAX box office record indicates that blockbuster content experienced in the best premium environment is bigger than ever before. Our global platform in 80 countries eventicizing worldwide movies continues to resonate with audiences. As studios and streaming companies keep focusing their slates on more blockbuster films, particularly in 2019, we see a strong opportunity to continue as a destination of choice for consumers."

Six of the top 10 highest-grossing IMAX films of 2018 featured "IMAX DNA," which means they were either shot with IMAX cameras or featured IMAX expanded aspect ratio to deliver audiences up to 26% more picture, only in IMAX. The Company has already announced several IMAX DNA titles for 2019, including Alita: Battle Angel, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King.

Avengers: Infinity War is one of the first American movies shot entirely with IMAX cameras, which pretty much demanded fans see it in the proper intended way, helping to bolster numbers. It is one of the biggest movies of the year, and there is so much going on, Marvel and Disney didn't want to confine the images to the regular aspect ratio, which payed off for moviegoers heading into IMAX theaters.

Infinity War directors The Russo Brothers used the Alexa Imax digital cameras for every scene in the movie. And they have done the same with 2019's most anticipated release, Avengers: Endgame. In the recent past, these cameras have only been used to capture some of the bigger action scenes, like the Airport battle in Captain America: Civil War. In Infinity War, more than half the movie includes big battle scenes, so they definitely had to go all the way with it, and as you can see by the IMAX box office numbers, this certainly paid off.

  • TOP 10 IMAX FILMS OF 2018 (based on global IMAX box office performance):
  • 1. Avengers: Infinity War
  • 2. Black Panther
  • 3. Jurassic World
  • 4. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
  • 5. Ready Player One
  • 6. Aquaman
  • 7. Venom
  • 8. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
  • 9. Ant-Man and the Wasp
  • 10. The Meg
  • TOP 10 LOCAL-LANGUAGE IMAX FILMS OF 2018 (based on global IMAX box office performance):
  • 1. Operation Red Sea (China)
  • 2. Detective Chinatown (China)
  • 3. Dying to Survive (China)
  • 4. Monster Hunt 2 (China)
  • 5. Hello Mr Billionaire (China)
  • 6. Project Gutenberg (China)
  • 7. Shadow (China)
  • 8. Detective Dee 3 (China)
  • 9. Along with the Gods (Korea)
  • 10. Padmaavat (India)