The CEO of Imax told CNBC on Monday that he doesn't believe there's any so-called sequel fatigue following the strong U.S. debut of "Spider-Man: Far from Home."
The new Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland pulled in $185 million in domestic ticket sales from Tuesday to Sunday, which included the Fourth of July holiday weekend. "Far from Home," which debuted overseas last weekend, earned $580 million globally in its first 10 days in theaters. The film was created by Sony in a partnership with Disney's Marvel Studios, making it part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Imax chief Richard Gelfond said on "Squawk on the Street" that customers will come out to see quality movies even if they are sequels. "If it's a good movie, and that team at Disney who works with Sony ... they just keep turning them out, and people keep wanting to go."
Gelfond also pointed to the success of "Avengers: Endgame," also in the MCU. It was first released on April 26, and earned $1.2 billion worldwide on its opening weekend. Disney released an extended cut of the film two weeks ago for an extra push to beat the all-time box office record. "Endgame" raked in another $4.4 million globally this weekend — now just $15 million shy of the $2.787 billion that "Avatar" earned since its release in 2009.
The success of the two Disney-affiliated movies, "Far from Home" and "Endgame," has come amidst disappointing performances from other franchise films. "Men in Black: International" and "Dark Phoenix," the newest installment of the X-Men franchise, were both seen as box office bombs earlier this year.
Structural changes in Hollywood mean that sequels are here to stay, Gelfond said. "The budgets are so big now, $150 to $250 million. I think people are reluctant to make big bets on new content"
Gelfond said box office revenue is up 5% this year for Imax, including a 25% increase in China. He added that he is not worried about the movie industry being caught in the crossfire of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.