IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX) soared to a $12 million debut for Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow,” reaching its highest grossing opening weekend of the pandemic era in 11 markets worldwide, including North America. At the resurgent domestic box office, “Black Widow” broke pandemic-era records for IMAX® across the board — delivering the Company’s biggest opening weekend box office, indexing, and per screen average since March 2020. The film grossed $7.2 million across IMAX screens in North America, earning 9% of the domestic box office and a per screen average of $19,000.
“The strong results for ‘Black Widow’ confirm that where the pandemic is under control, audiences can’t wait to get back to the movies and The IMAX Experience,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “Hollywood blockbusters continue to gain ground at the box office with each successive release, and that bodes very well for the many films lined up for exclusive worldwide theatrical release this fall and beyond.”
Eleven countries set pandemic-era opening weekend records including Brazil, Austria, Germany and South Korea. Overall, the IMAX global network delivered $14.5 million in box office grosses for the weekend.
“Black Widow” features 22 minutes of select scenes in expanded aspect ratio exclusively in IMAX. With several scenes specially formatted exclusively for IMAX theatres, film fans can experience “Black Widow” on the massive IMAX screen at 1.90:1 aspect ratio – showing up to 26% more of the onscreen image.
Directed by Cate Shortland, “Black Widow” stars Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz. It is the first new movie in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first new Marvel Studios theatrical release since 2019.