All right, great. We'll get started with our next session of the day. Thank you everyone for taking the time to join us. My name is Steven Laszczyk, and I cover entertainment here at Goldman, and we are excited to welcome to the Communacopia + Technology Conference this year, Natasha Fernandes, the CFO of IMAX, and Anne Globe, the CMO of IMAX. Thank you both for being with us today.
Thanks for having us, Stephen.
Yeah. Pleasure.
Great. I wanted to start high level. Natasha, IMAX, we've seen just incredible demand play out so far this summer between Odyssey and Spider-Man, far outpacing supply. Would just love to get your thoughts on your strategic priorities stepping out of a record summer as you look out over the next three to five years, perhaps across network expansion, content, partnerships, pricing, and then the investments that you can make in technology.
I think our differentiated model is stronger than ever. It's all about the power of our platform. Our opportunity is increasingly about converting demand into capacity and capacity into earnings. When you look at our priorities, of course, expanding the network. We're highly under-penetrated. We're in 1,800 locations, 91 countries, but our TAM is 4,500. We're less than 50% penetrated. A lot of opportunity to keep growing and in really high performing markets. I think we're really excited about how do we expand into new markets and whether that is using our capital or just signing new deals out of all the momentum that's coming out of The Odyssey and the conversations there. I think there's a lot of opportunity. Deepening our content partnerships.
I think filmmakers and studios, as they're designing their releases, I'm sure they've taken note as to how The Odyssey was released and how Nolan graciously sort of leaned into the IMAX of it all, and how it has been proven to be such a success out of that. I think that that's a great kind of model for filmmakers and studios to take note of and to involve IMAX earlier in the process for releasing a film. Investing in technology is one of our other priorities. It's technology and that technological moat and the differentiated IMAX experience that really creates the brand awareness and the consumer demand for IMAX. Without a differentiated experience, there would not be a reason that filmmakers, studios, and consumers all want IMAX. Keeping that strong and building on it and improving is really important.
Importantly, I think the growth comes overall from just all of that together being leveraged in our model and our earnings model. As you know, our operating leverage in the model, it's all creating higher level of earnings, which has a high flow-through down to our bottom line. I think all of that really is what is leading us into the next three to five years. We feel so excited about where we're going in the future. We had our best year ever last year, and we're going to have a new best this year as we look at achieving our guidance that we put out for the year and looking at growth for years beyond. I think it's an exciting time to be in the IMAX business for sure.
It's a great overview, and I want to touch on a lot of those points individually.
Okay.
Maybe first we start with the summer slate. The Odyssey materially outperformed expectations. I would just be curious, Natasha, for maybe your updated views on how The Odyssey changes your shorter-term outlook for the 2026 box, but also too how it influences how you think about the long-term growth algorithm for IMAX.
I think it's definitely strengthened our confidence in 2026. More importantly, I think it's definitely shown us what our long-term growth model is as well. The Odyssey is not just about one big title. It's a proof point about our business and about the future of our business. Near term, yes, it's a box office hit and 100% we're capitalizing on that. It's going to run through our financials and it's going to help us achieve our goals for 2026. W hen you look at the earnings opportunity for future years, in the long term, you're strengthening several parts of the algorithm along the way. You're looking at more demand from consumers for IMAX screens, and that demand from consumers for IMAX screens then makes exhibitors want more demand for growing their network because they want to deliver for the consumer what the consumer wants.
Once you start growing the network even more, like our global platform is what is highly desired from filmmakers and studios. T he more you grow the platform globally, then more studios and filmmakers will want that too, because that's more reach, right? All of that put together, you'll get more pricing power because you're going to lead to more higher utilization rates, more revenue per screen. I t all works in a nice virtuous cycle, but mostly working towards long term. Of course, the Odyssey is helping us achieve our 2026 goals, but definitely setting us up for strength in the future.
Anne, I'm curious if you think consumers are increasingly choosing a movie because it's IMAX and choosing the brand first and perhaps the movie second. If so, could you maybe talk a little bit more about how the brand has evolved over the course of time to get to this point?
Well, I think with "The Odyssey," it was clearly both, right? We had an amazing film by an amazing filmmaker that really envisioned how to maximize that experience in the IMAX screens. Our dedicated fan base obviously showed up and was very excited about that opportunity. We also saw new fans coming to IMAX. We discovered last year in our own research that our biggest growth area, which is now widely reported for all of theatrical, is Gen Z, ages 13 to 17, that wanted to come to IMAX and want that great experience in the theater. Our fan base broadly, to your question, has been growing. We're up over 12 million fans following us on various platforms globally.
Tremendous amount of additional growth there, particularly in international territories where we can talk to people in local language, and we have all kinds of offerings for fans. We have a newsletter following which people have to subscribe to purposefully, which is closing in on 1 million followers. That is a great way for us to talk to fans and for us to have fans engaged specifically with a theater that they want to go to, with tickets that they want to get. We're seeing that already create a lot of excitement for upcoming film for IMAX releases that are on sale, such as "Resident Evil" and the upcoming "Dune." Again, with our subscriber base, we're able to be just directly engaged with our fans on an ongoing basis. We're seeing our brand awareness also continue to grow.
Our own study of brand awareness with moviegoers last year was our brand was recognized by 75% of moviegoers in an unaided question. Now this year already, that's up over 80%. We are seeing that brand growth, and we're seeing our fan base expand and continue to be excited about what's being offered in IMAX.
How do you hope the brand grows from here? You mentioned a lot of the ways you're engaging with fans. You're driving engagement, further engagement, perhaps both internationally and domestically. Is there an evolution that you hope plays out over the next couple of years?
Yes, I think we will continue to see that. We do have amazing films created for Filmed for IMAX, both digitally and shot with film, that are planned over the next several years, some that we've announced, some that we haven't. We can look further out and see fans being very excited about that. We have tremendous growth in local language opportunity, and then we're also just seeing generally moviegoing increase and seeing more suppliers of films coming both from traditional studios, from local language suppliers, from even Netflix now, people seeing the value of the theatrical release. Our fan base is responding very positively to that. We're seeing fans, of course, who had a terrific experience with The Odyssey and Spider-Man and so forth, immediately want to know what is coming next in IMAX.
We're seeing that again pay back in ticket sales for future titles. We think that growth is definitely going to continue to increase with new fans and our existing fan base being much more committed to going more frequently.
What's great about the brand growth is creating consumer awareness for the differentiated experience. Our whole goal is that when you go out to a movie, you're not necessarily saying, "I want to see that movie." I want to go to IMAX. I want to see what's playing in IMAX this week. If you create the understanding that this is a whole different experience, it's not about just a large screen, but it's about a large screen, a different projector, an enhanced experience, a differentiated sound, and a different version of the film. Getting consumers to understand that they have a brand affinity to IMAX, that's where you'll increase the utilization eventually as well as you work through the network. That is eventually the goal is to continue to do that.
Anne and the team have done a great job over the past couple of years kind of educating the consumer as to we're not just simply a large screen. There's a lot more going on there.
Maybe back to the summer slate, the other hallmark movie of the summer was "Spider-Man," which I do not believe was originally set to play in the North American market. Could you maybe just talk a little bit about the decision to bring "Spider-Man" back to the slate, then maybe more broadly, your ability to be flexible with programming week in and week out?
Yeah, I think one of the things that we have been able to cultivate over the past couple of years is our ability to screen share and to do a multi-programming strategy where having an 1,800+ network in 91 countries allows you to say certain markets I could play different types of content and not necessarily lean into one movie that has to play in every single location. "Spider-Man," we always wanted to be part of "Spider-Man," but we are committed to "Odyssey" 100%, of course. We wanted to lean into "Odyssey" as well. W hen we realized, China and South Korea and Japan were not opening "Odyssey" on the same day and date, that gave us an opportunity to play "Spider-Man." Then once a few weeks had passed for "The Odyssey," that gave us an opportunity to play "Spider-Man" domestically as well.
I think it is really great for the strategy to be able to lean in when you have an opportunity. T he other side of it is "The Odyssey." We only intended to play it for a handful of weeks originally, and it is playing all the way through till the end of September at this point. I t works the other way, too, where you have the ability to lean in even more to a film that is just so well done and really shows IMAX on full display in a unique way. I think that that is also great, too.
Maybe looking ahead, you have "Dune" coming up later this year, which has-
Exciting
the potential to be another tent-pole film for IMAX. Would just be curious on the 70 mm front. How long do you plan to play the film in that format? As you take some of the best learnings from "The Odyssey" this past summer in that format, what are you applying to "Dune" later this year?
Dune" is shaping up to be another title where the IMAX presentation is going to be integral to the release. I think we're working through all the details of how many film locations. Obviously, we have 41 film locations available, but all the details will be unveiled over the next little while. I think we are playing it for the two weeks in December, and then we'll continue to play it into January. The release is December 18th. We actually are doing previews earlier, in that week, which Anne, maybe you could touch on in a minute, too. The lesson of "The Odyssey", I think it's clear that the consumers want to have the IMAX experience, and it demonstrates that we have the ability to curate that for them.
We're being thoughtful about how to approach it and really pull out and differentiate the experience of IMAX for the consumer so they understand the only place to see "Dune" is in the IMAX locations. That's the best experience. You'll get the expanded aspect ratio. We'll have the film locations. The sound will be differentiated. The visuals of "Dune", just think about it on our massive screen. The cinematography is so well done that you'll be immersed into it. I think that we're planning for it to be something that we've learned over the summer and to make it even better for "Dune.
Yeah, I think one of the elements of maybe "The Odyssey" effect is that we were able to start selling tickets early for "The Odyssey" a year in advance. That became something that we saw that fans really embraced, and then we were able to do that again for "Dune." We were able to start selling tickets for "Dune" four months in advance, which is again, pretty long lead time. That just is because fans are very excited and want to look forward to the opportunity to see that. "Dune", again, it was shot partially with digital, partially with film cameras. We have an amazing filmmaker coming from the beginning of the process, envisioning how that story is going to unfold in IMAX, and then working very closely with the filmmakers at both at Legendary and Warner Brothers.
It's just a great partnership, and that is partly learnings from The Odyssey and the effect of what both the audience experienced and what we're able to learn in the marketing side and take forward into the Dune campaign. We're seeing great pre-sales. As Natasha mentioned, we do have advanced ticket sales that are already on sale starting on the 14th. That is going to be leading into the release on the 18th and ahead of Avengers, which is also on that date.
That's helpful. Natasha, on the supply-demand front-end, Dune is another great example of where supply and demand there'll likely be a mismatch. Odyssey, of course, this past summer. Just be curious, as you look ahead to later this year, where do you think the biggest bottleneck in the system is today? Then lessons learned from The Odyssey in terms of handling that for go forward temple releases like a Dune.
I think we see it less of having a bottleneck and more about having an opportunity. The opportunity to add capacity by expanding the network, that's an obvious thing that we know we want to do and we need to do. We have the opportunity to do it because we're less than 50% penetrated. I think it's a good problem to have when you have more demand than supply. We're going to continue to have good conversations with exhibitors. There's been a lot of activity on the exhibitor front of signing for new systems and expanding the network. I think obviously from The Odyssey you're getting some of those theaters from The Odyssey, their per-screen averages on the one film, they were more than most locations make in one or even two years.
You can imagine the returns that came out for the exhibitors from that, and those data points are so helpful for our sales team to immediately highlight in the sales pitch because that ROI conversation becomes so much easier when you have all these data points as well to expand the network and to work through there. I do think that we're in a good position to continue to increase the supply of IMAX locations to meet demand. But I like the position we're in, where there's a lot more demand than our locations, for sure.
That's great. I wanted to turn to the competitive environment. Over the course of the last number of years, there's been examples of competition coming in the premium large format space. I'd be curious if you could talk a little bit about what differentiates IMAX today versus some of the competition out there. I think in the past, we've touched on things like the filmmaker relationship. There's the proprietary technology, perception of the brand amongst consumers. Could you maybe just touch on some of those topics?
I actually wouldn't choose one moat. Are we okay, Caleb? No. I actually wouldn't choose one moat because the power of the IMAX platform really comes from the combination. We have a global network, and we have proprietary technology, and we have relationships with filmmakers and studios. Any one of those moats on its own is not necessarily in itself sufficient. I think you need all of it working together in that nice, healthy combination for there really to be the success of the platform there. I think what's been increasing over the past little while is brand awareness and consumer behavior as well. I think that that is adding to our competitive differentiation because consumers understanding the difference of IMAX is actually what is helpful towards strengthening that moat as well.
Because if you're a consumer and you understand that I haven't just visited an IMAX location or a regular theater, and I've seen a very big presentation, but I've actually gone to an experience where that film was curated in an IMAX version of the film. It is a bespoke sound set that I'm listening to. If you sit in an IMAX theater, that sound will shake your seat. You feel it while you're watching it. You're having a whole experience, but also the fact that we maintain our systems across our worldwide network and to make sure that it's a consistent offering. The quality of systems is not something that is maintained for most other offerings, most other screens. Systems are not checked for maintenance levels and sound levels and calibration and everything. Every day, our systems are going through a daily calibration.
There's small details behind the scenes, but it makes the quality of the experience so much different. I think all of that adding together, along with our technology and the fact that we continue to invest in technology. We have 80 engineers that work for us. We are constantly evolving our technology. We're not just sitting back and waiting for something to happen. We are actually actively pursuing new technologies and making our experience stronger and differentiated. I think all of that coming together kind of creates that competitive differentiation.
That's great. I wanted to focus a bit on the international opportunity, the local language opportunity for IMAX ahead. Maybe a good place to start is with this past year. I'd be curious if you could just spend a little time talking about "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man" and the performance that you saw in China, and if that surprised you in any way.
Yeah, I think "Spider-Man" and "The Odyssey" in China definitely didn't surprise us. I think we knew that they were going to do well in China. What's interesting is the Chinese consumer is not unlike the consumer in North America. They just want good content. So content that is a good story, fresh, new, something relatable. They actually like a family connection or a relationship in the story, is something that they enjoy as well. I think from that perspective, the China market, we know exactly how to create content for them. We just have to make sure the content is created in a way that meets their demands. On the local language front, we're doing so many other countries. In the past year, I think we've done five or six new countries offerings of local language.
It's all part of our whole content strategy of diversifying the types of content that we offer. So whether that be Hollywood or local language, alternative content, really making sure that we meet the consumer demands. When we think about our network, we're only about 35% penetrated from a network perspective in the international markets outside of China. How do you grow the network over there? Well, that's by meeting the consumer demand, and what the consumers want in those markets is local language content. Last year, one of our German exhibitors said to us that there was this really popular German title coming out. We had no idea about it. But we didn't really know much about what the German content was that was popular.
When the exhibitor highlighted to us, our film team picked it up, and we played it, and it did really well. What's good about that is that then opens the door for conversations with exhibitors. Because once you offer them the local language that they want for their country, plus Hollywood, then that's where the conversation for sales can happen as well.
How do you think about the longer-term opportunity for local language and alternative content? If you are thinking across some of your key markets in Japan, India, perhaps there is some other under-penetrated markets out there where you see a big opportunity.
Yeah, I think that there is a lot of opportunity. Demon Slayer is a great example of Japan. We increased our network 20% that year simply in advance of opening Demon Slayer. Then Demon Slayer did almost $80 million for us. For a local language title, that is amazing. I think that is a great model and example of how local language can do well. This year, we are doing Godzilla Minus Zero.
It is our first local language international title that is a Filmed for IMAX title that was crafted by the filmmaker, again, at the very inception. Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Then we will see additional marketing and merchandise associated with that. We also have Ramayana, which is an Indian title, our second local language Filmed for IMAX title. Those are both firsts for us this year. We will have more of those coming in years to come. So we see our local language business expanding. I think we released 67 titles last year. We will release over 75 this year, and we will continue to see that growth in years to come. Just demand, again, from the audience and amazing filmmakers internationally that want to display their films in IMAX. So we have a robust way of getting those into those markets.
That is great. Maybe to zoom out for a moment and discuss some of the other drivers of the business. I would be curious just in terms of the opportunity that remains on the pricing side, the take rate side, maybe the broader economic participation that IMAX can gain within the theatrical ecosystem given this position of strength that you currently have.
I think there's still a lot of opportunity. We're not limited to just improving price or take rates. I think it also comes from higher utilization as well. I think the key is that you have to demonstrate value for every participant. So if consumers are willing to pay for the experience, then exhibitors will receive attractive economics, and then the studios and filmmakers will want to keep showing their films in IMAX as well because they'll be growing their box office, right? I think there's a lot of opportunity there. We don't set pricing. The exhibitors set pricing, and of course, we love to feed them data and have conversations, but realistically, we are not in control of pricing. But I do think that there's been a lot of eyes on what's happened, especially for The Odyssey and for Spider-Man and demand.
The reality is consumers are here, consumers are back to movies, and they're always there. It's just you have to price it. The aftermarket sales on some of these tickets have been ridiculous. I think there is an opportunity when you think about film locations or you think about primetime shows or you think about different pieces of content. Definitely some opportunities there. So hopefully the exhibitors are doing their analysis with all the data they receive because we've definitely received a lot of data as well. I think that's helpful. The other part is I wouldn't say you're going to raise it to $100 or something a ticket, but could you raise it a little bit? Yes, definitely for different occasions.
Yeah. I feel like I've seen more IMAX merchandise over the last year or two. I'm curious how sizable of an opportunity you feel like this can become for the brand over time.
Well, terrific. I'm glad you're buying that IMAX merchandise. Yes, it's definitely a revenue driver for us. Last year, we announced a bigger growth strategy in merchandise, and we've done that in a couple of key ways. We do have monthly IMAX brand drops, which are IMAX driven. Can be great design sweatshirts, T-shirts, 70 mm hats. We don't have a lot of inventory risk there because when it sells out, then we can just replenish and recreate those items. We are also doing a lot of IP-driven merchandise. So we had great success with the Project Hail Mary T-shirt. We've done some really cool items on The Odyssey that hopefully you've seen around. We have much more stuff coming in the fall for Godzilla and Dune. We'll have a lot more of that coming in years to come. So those are licensed items.
We have done some great brand collaborations that are well associated with our brand. We did a collaboration with Kodak this year, this summer. We also did a collaboration with Travis Scott, who was in The Odyssey and also wanted to do a T-shirt with us. That was a very cool drop and great for our fans. Then, of course, for the first time ever in IMAX history, we got into the popcorn bucket business with a very authentic camera-style popcorn bucket that in the viewfinder had an actual film still in there. We did three drops of that. Sold out very quickly in a matter of hours. Became a very hot item. The scarcity of that really excited demand among fans. Again, when we have a great authentic idea like that, we will see more of those things to come.
We are anticipating continued growth in the merchandise area.
I think it is a great organic way to monetize the brand naturally, right? It is not something that we have to going out of our way in a distinct and new business. It is actually coming off of a brand that we have built over 60 years, and it is well known at this point.
Helpful. I wanted to touch on some of the other ways IMAX can monetize the brand, the technology, the platform. I know box office is one driver, but there is certainly others as well. As you think ahead and look to leverage the dynamics around network growth, we talked a little bit about pricing. There are certainly technology components, thinking more broadly within the IMAX organization that are potentially monetizable. Content strategy, then, of course, the operating leverage on the business model. What would you point investors to thinking ahead over the course of the next couple of years as ways to extend the reach of the business and the monetizable opportunities?
I think box office gets the most attention because it's visible every weekend, right? There's a lot of information on box office posted, but there's several other drivers of value as well in the business. Value creation is all driven by the power of our platform. It's not just simply one area of our business. Our network growth for sure. Our revenue per screen, utilization. We have an existing network, plus we're growing the network. The content differentiation, the fact that we could play different types of content all around the world and we're not limited to being one exhibitor, for instance, right? We run a global platform across over 250 exhibition customers and partners. We have the ability to create value through that avenue as well. Our technology and the technological differentiation in our business as well.
Then, of course, it's all flowing through to the operating leverage in the business. The network plus the box office flowing right through to the bottom line. Our model isn't simply about just more box office. It's about more box office leading to network growth, leading to more box office leading to more earnings in the end, right? It's more about revenue growth overall from all of those areas as opposed to one area driving all the growth and now merchandise as well. We do have our SCT business as well. While be it small, it is growing. We just signed that deal with Goer, who's in automotive parts in China as well for their audio and visual system for self-driving cars. I think there's a lot of little other areas where we can continue to drive opportunities and as well alternative content and local language.
That type of content is not only necessarily box office. Sometimes they're flat fee deals, sometimes they're different arrangements. You can see lots of value and creation coming from them. I think what's great about some of those events is you're bringing new fans in. The consumer and building the consumer base for us is very important because you're introducing IMAX to a whole new consumer. The F1 events, we just did one this past weekend. The F1 events introducing the F1 fans to IMAX. There's many of them who have never been to IMAX before. We experienced that with the League of Legends in China as well when we did that event. Many of them had not been to an IMAX before.
Then we did a K-pop concert a couple of years ago in Korea where it was women aged 50, where most of them, when we did the surveys out, they had never been to IMAX before, but they all understood now the IMAX experience. Creating value through the chain all the way down to the consumer.
Yep. You've mentioned network expansion a few times. Just wanted to dig a little bit deeper into that as you think about the success that you've had on the back of Odyssey. I'm curious to the extent any of those conversations around network expansion with your partners has changed, and if there's any maybe updated way we should be thinking about the opportunity for network expansion both this year and next year.
There's a lot of opportunity. The conversations have only gotten stronger, more activity. I think I mentioned it earlier about us having a lot of data out of the Odyssey, our sales team, to be able to go to the exhibitors and show them that too. If you don't have an IMAX screen, it was unfortunate for you coming out of the Odyssey because you really would have made a lot of money from having an IMAX screen. But there's lots of opportunity. Dune is coming up next, and next year has a lot of titles as well, where filmmakers are leaning into using our cameras. I think the more that these opportunities for box office come up, it also drives the conversations too. The Odyssey is a very big effect on those conversations. There's many deals kind of in play right now.
Yeah. It sounds like opportunity for second screens as well in particular markets.
Yeah
Or higher capacity. Maybe moving down the P&L to margins, Natasha, just as we talk about the operating leverage in the business, just be curious to get your latest thoughts on how we should be thinking about operating leverage this year and in particular, the third quarter, outsized quarter across a number of different dynamics. Any framework or help you can give us on thinking about margins, maybe both for the third quarter, but also too for this year?
Well, earnings is coming up soon.
Yeah
You will see the results very soon. I am sure you know as soon as we hit those higher levels of box office above $250 in a quarter, and we are already at $600 for this quarter, you can easily see the incrementality fall through. Every additional dollar over the $250, essentially 85% of it runs through straight down to the bottom line. So you can easily see how the margins will be very high as you look at this quarter. You look at the full year, right? Q4 is going to be a very strong quarter with all of the content we have coming through Q4 as well, but also the network expansion and the opportunities of growing the network too. That is also additive. I think we guided obviously EBITDA margin to mid-40s with a floor of 45.
Year to date, June, we were at 42.6 or something around there for EBITDA margin. So, obviously, we are well on track to achieve our guidance for this year.
As you think about the margin profile of the business over the medium term, what are some of the investments that you think are necessary to sustain, just continue improvement in margin? Of course, you have the operating leverage in the business. Are there perhaps either investments that you can make in efficiencies or efficiencies that can still be taken out in the business?
What's great is we've actually taken the time over the past couple of years to already start to address where we could make changes and become more efficient. We've deployed AI on a corporate infrastructure side. We're using it a lot in data analytics. Our film team using it to analyze all of the film data that we have so they can better program our locations. The back office team's using it a lot for their jobs as well to create efficiencies. We've done a lot of restructurings in the past couple of years, which you've seen through our financials. So we've been very thoughtful about what staff do we need, what level of talent in what positions, especially as we look towards growing the business in the future, and what do we need for the future.
That's sort of the way that we're looking at it from that perspective. Our cost basis really doesn't need to increase for any reason, so any top-line growth really will fall to the bottom line because there's nothing we need to invest in significantly that is required to enable our business to continue to grow.
Yeah. I do want to touch on M&A quickly.
Yeah
Before we get there, just a question on free cash flow conversion and investing in the business. You've got it to 50% free cash flow conversion this year. Just would love any updated thoughts on that front, how you're thinking about conversion over the next couple of years. And then as you think about capital allocation, investing in the business versus buybacks or dividend.
Yeah. On the free cash flow, yes, we've guided to the 50%+ . We're well on track towards that. I think you can see easily that as the box office levels are at the higher level, we will have that cash flow convert through because we're not increasing our expenses by any manner. Growing our network does not require us to increase costs at either the film remastering side or even on the SG&A side. When we think about capital allocation, our first priority is to grow the network. The more that we can continue to invest in growing the network faster, that's really important because that will then grow box office, which will grow the network, and it's a virtuous cycle that's beneficial to us. Historically, all of our cash has also been used for buybacks.
We've done a little bit earlier this year, but obviously as we start to build up cash, we're not a highly acquisitive company, so we generally don't use it for that purpose.
Maybe lastly, just to touch on M&A. In the past, you've spoken to IMAX as a strategic asset. I would just be curious, any updated thoughts on that front as you look ahead, any potential partners or strategic attributes that you'd be looking for?
We occupy a unique position in the entertainment industry. I think we're connected with filmmakers and studios, and we have a global reach. So I think we're definitely a highly valued asset. But we are operating at such strength and we are doing very well. We are growing every year, a new record year each year, like last year and projected for this year. We see growth for the future as well. There's so much buzz and activity around our conversations with filmmakers and studios and our relationships. So I think we're in a really great position and we're excited about the future for IMAX.
That is great. Well, I will have to leave it there, Natasha.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me.