IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond discusses his company’s expansion plans, competing with at-home entertainment and working with Tom Cruise and Christopher Nolan on ‘Barron’s Roundtable.’
The most recent movie in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise hit theaters in May, with “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” notching big bucks at the box office and at the same time becoming a boon for IMAX.
“The Final Reckoning” marked the eighth film in the popular long-running action franchise starring actor Tom Cruise as character Ethan Hunt. The series debuted nearly 30 years ago in 1996.
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IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said during a recent “Barron’s Roundtable” interview that the actor had told him “maybe a year and a half ago” saying that he wanted “three weeks in IMAX.”
Richard Gelfond, chief executive officer of Imax Corp., speaks at the China’s Film Industry in the era of Globalization as part of the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival at Crowne Plaza on June 16, 2015. (Visual China Group via Getty Images/Visual China Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“We usually only play things for two weeks because there are big blockbusters coming up every couple weeks,” he said.
According to Gelfond, Cruise said, “So tell me what I need to do to get three weeks.”
“First, there were traditional things, like the premiere in IMAX, marketing, size and this,” the IMAX CEO said. “But I said, ‘Tom, I want you — every question they ask you, I want you to answer IMAX. So if they say, ‘What do you think of the script?’ ‘In IMAX, it’s great.’”
He said that “worked,” noting the IMAX did “a big part of the box office for Mission: Impossible 8” and the movie “did very well.”
A billboard near Hollywood & Highland promotes the new Tom Cruise movie ‘Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning’ on May 23, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images / Getty Images)
IMAX reported on May 27 that “The Final Reckoning” generated $31 million in the IMAX global network during its opening weekend through that Monday. It marked the “second biggest Memorial Day Weekend debut ever” for the company, it said.
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Worldwide, the film brought in $190 million during its debut weekend, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Tom Cruise at the “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” U.S. premiere held at Lincoln Center Fountain Plaza on May 18, 2025 in New York, New York. (Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“The Final Reckoning” took in $75.6 million globally for IMAX during the three weeks it had on IMAX screens, roughly 15-16% of the film’s overall global gross, an IMAX spokesperson told FOX Business.
Box Office Mojo pegged the film’s worldwide gross at $576.5 million as of Wednesday. That nine-figure haul helped the Cruise-led movie rank as having the fourth-largest worldwide box office so far this year, according to the site.
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“The Final Reckoning” used IMAX cameras during filming. Certain scenes in the movie also feature an “IMAX-exclusive expanded aspect ratio,” according to an IMAX press release.
