Hit film Avatar helps Imax to record box-office sales

CINEMA operator Imax took in more than $225 million (£146m) in gross box-office sales in the first quarter, fuelled by the massive popularity of Avatar.

Chief executive Rich Gelfond said Avatar would pass $100m in international box-office takings this week, adding to about $130m from North America since the 3D film was released in December.

"For the first quarter… our box office was over $225m," he said yesterday. "Obviously, that was positively impacted by Avatar."

He added: "We're going to pass $100m internationally on Avatar this week, probably by the weekend."

Toronto-based Imax shares box-office takings with the cinemas where its films are shown, and with the studios who make the films.

Imax's previous record for a single quarter was in the last three months of 2009, when it made $101m in gross box office, and total revenue of $54.2m.

Shares in Imax have almost tripled in value in the past year, helped by the rapid rise in the popularity of 3D, which will get further exposure in this year's World Cup, when some games will be broadcast in 3D for the first time.

The number of digital cinema screens around the world almost doubled last year to 16,405, driven by 3D, which, for the first time, accounted for the majority of digital screens, according to UK-based media research firm Screen Digest.

Imax, which opened its first movie theatre in 1970, now has some 400 cinemas across 48 countries.