Is IMAX a Screaming Buy? With Rich Gelfond

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**Josh Brown** (1:07)
Thank you, Nicole. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Live From The Compound. We have a very special guest here. I've never seen Michael. I've seen you this excited once. Eli? Eli Manning was here. But you're very, very, very excited today. We have a very special guest. Rich Gelfond has been CEO of IMAX Corporation since April 2009 and a director since 1994, when he and Bradley Wexler acquired the company. He previously served as co-CEO with Wexler from 1996 to 2009 and as co-chairman from 1999 to 2009 Before IMAX, Gelfond worked as an investment banker and M&A attorney. That's your official intro.
But I actually had something a little unofficial in mind. Are you okay with that?

**Rich Gelfond** (1:55)
Well, you didn't mention that I'm a better quarterback than you I manage.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:58)
Fair. Fair.

**Josh Brown** (1:59)
We did leave that out. What I wanted to say is, I think you preside over a company that right now is among the most important companies in Hollywood. I know you're not literally in Hollywood, but in my opinion, you can tell me if you think I'm right or wrong.
I think nothing is more important to the livelihood of the movie business than an IMAX open. And everyone is now figuring it out. I think the stock price reflects that. And I think the casual fan understands that. And now I'm assuming the executives all understand that. He arrived at that conclusion years ago in talking about your stock. But we'd love to hear from your perspective where you think you sit.

**Rich Gelfond** (2:43)
Well, I really appreciate you saying that.
We have felt that way for a while. And the reason is we consider ourselves very much in the middle of the Hollywood ecosystem. And it's not just Hollywood. It's the global content ecosystem. So we're almost like a curator in a way. So if you have a big movie and you want it released in a way that it's going to turn into a blockbuster or it's going to break out, I think having an IMAX release is an integral component of that. And we have thought that and our business plan, probably since you bought the stock or...

**Michael Batnick** (3:22)
May 14th, 2024, 17 bucks a share.

**Rich Gelfond** (3:24)
Well, it was even before that, was our alliance with filmmakers, our alliance with studios. And again, it's really important to underline on a global basis. So we have 800 theaters in China. You know, we did Nezha in China, which probably no one on this podcast has heard of, but it did $1.2 billion US a movie. If there's a big movie, we've been in the middle of it. And as that's happened, we've tried as a business strategy to say, how can we use our new found position to strengthen it and to increase the value of the brand and to make us more integral to the system? And I think that's been happening, as you said, in your question, I think people are waking up now and saying, wow, you really need IMAX in the middle of things. But I think we've known that for a while. And as I said, it's incredibly gratifying to see it happen.

**Josh Brown** (4:21)
It feels incomplete if there's not an IMAX release concurrent with the theatrical release. It feels almost like, how do they not get IMAX screens? And the first time I really started to feel that way was reading press reports about how vociferously Tom Cruise was lobbying for more screens for the Mission Impossible two-parter. And there were competing films coming out at the same time. And he just felt like he couldn't get enough screens.
So that's when it became apparent to me. Michael was talking about IMAX. And now I feel like everybody sort of gets it.