CorpDigest
IMAX Corporation
Leadership History
2 leaders · Full leadership timeline
Last reviewed: 2026-06-10 · By Swet Parvadiya
Less than 1% of cinema screens. Roughly 18% of the global box office gross for the top 50 blockbuster releases. That ratio — one-hundredth the screen count generating nearly one-fifth the revenue — is the business model of IMAX Corporation expressed as a single equation. Scarcity drives premium pricing. The premium pricing supports a revenue share with exhibitors that captures 5-10% of every ticket sold in an IMAX screen, at near-100% marginal margins once the hardware is installed. The $1.137 billion in FY2024 revenue is generated by 1,400 employees — a per-employee revenue ratio of over $800,000. The business is capital-light once the hardware network is established. Each International Business Exchange installed creates a recurring royalty stream from box office revenue that continues as long as the theater operates and audiences choose to pay the IMAX premium for the right films. The Digital Media Remastering process is the legal and technical gatekeeper of the brand. A film cannot be marketed as an IMAX experience unless it has been certified by IMAX's technical team — a quality control mechanism that protects the premium pricing by ensuring that every film displaying the IMAX logo meets the visual and audio standards that justify the ticket markup. The DMR process is not just quality control; it's the enforcement mechanism for the entire pricing model. The exclusive agreements with filmmakers to capture specific sequences with proprietary IMAX cameras — sequences that reveal visual information physically unavailable in standard theatrical formats — create a content differentiation that audiences will specifically seek out. Christopher Nolan's IMAX-captured sequences in his films have driven measurable audience intent to view in IMAX rather than standard format.
Chief Executive Officer
Gelfond has been instrumental in the company's strategic evolution, spearheading the ruthless transition from a niche, 15-perf 70mm film documentary supplier to a dominant, digitally integrated blockbuster engine. He oversaw the massive global rollout of the IMAX with Laser projection systems and the aggressive expansion into the Chinese market, transforming IMAX into a $1.3 billion market capitalization entertainment technology titan.
President
Shilowitz leads the company's global sales, marketing, and operations, driving the aggressive acceleration of the multiplex retrofit strategy and securing exclusive expanded aspect ratio relationships with the world's top filmmakers, ensuring the continued dominance of the IMAX brand in the premium exhibition space.
The company's proprietary IMAX laser projection technology, which delivers unprecedented contrast ratios, dual 4K resolution, and a 1.43:1 aspect ratio, creates a visual and auditory experience that physically cannot be replicated by home entertainment systems or standard digital projectors, thereby insulating the company from the existential threat of streaming platforms and the broader decline in mid-budget theatrical attendance. Surprisingly, IMAX Corporation operates at the absolute apex of this market, competing primarily with Dolby Laboratories' Dolby Cinema format, the proprietary in-house PLF brands of the major exhibition chains, and the broader, existential threat of high-end home entertainment systems. The major exhibition chains, including AMC Theatres, Regal, and Cinemark, represent a different type of competitive threat, characterized by the aggressive insourcing of premium screen technology to capture the full premium upcharge without paying a revenue share to a third-party technology provider. While these technologies are currently in their infancy and lack the content pipeline and social pattern of traditional cinema, they represent a long-term threat to the fundamental premise of the movie-going experience that IMAX relies upon. The second major challenge is the immense capital expenditure and operational complexity required to maintain and upgrade its global network of over 1,700 theaters to the latest IMAX with Laser projection standard. The third critical challenge is the intense competitive pressure from rival premium large-format (PLF) formats and the aggressive insourcing of premium screens by the major exhibition chains themselves. The fourth major challenge is the geopolitical and macroeconomic risks associated with the company's massive footprint in the Chinese market, which historically has been the primary engine of IMAX's box office growth and hardware installation base. The ongoing trade tensions and technological decoupling between the United States and China pose a severe risk to IMAX's joint venture operations, its ability to repatriate profits, and its supply chain for critical electronic components. Finally, the company faces a persistent challenge in securing a consistent pipeline of 'IMAX-improved' content from Hollywood studios. By offering exhibitors a highly attractive lease model that minimizes upfront capital expenditure and shares the financial risk of the premium upcharge, IMAX is rapidly accelerating the conversion rate, transforming the global exhibition footprint and capturing a larger share of the total box office dollar. From the frustrating failures of the Multiscreen experiment to the brilliant engineering of the Rolling Loop, the journey of IMAX is a profound evidence of the power of artistic vision, relentless problem-solving, and the consistent commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible in the medium of cinema.
Richard Gelfond has been tied to IMAX's leadership since the 1994 buyout, serving as co-CEO before becoming sole CEO in 2009. His tenure of roughly three decades makes him one of the longest-serving chief executives in media technology.
From 1994 until 2009 Richard Gelfond and Bradley Wechsler ran IMAX as co-CEOs and co-chairmen after acquiring the company together. Wechsler shifted to chairman duties while Gelfond assumed sole CEO responsibility in 2009.
Under Richard Gelfond, IMAX pivoted from museum documentaries to Hollywood blockbusters and rolled out digital projection in 2008 followed by IMAX with Laser. That strategy grew the network past 1,700 systems and made IMAX central to major studio release plans.
During 2020 Richard Gelfond cut costs and preserved liquidity as global theatre closures collapsed IMAX revenue. He then leaned on 2022-2023 blockbusters, and revenue rebounded to $1.137 billion by 2024.