Imax has renewed CEO Rich Gelfond’s contract through 2028, continuing the executive’s more than three-decade tenure at the company. Gelfond will continue to receive an annual base pay of $1.2 million and remains eligible for a target annual bonus equal to 100% of his base salary, with the potential to earn up to 200% of his base salary. As part of amended terms in the extension, Gelfond will receive restricted share units valued at $3.5 million per year that vest in three equal installments, and performance stock units valued at $3.5 million that vest based on performance criteria over the next three years. Gelfond first became co-CEO of Imax back in 1993, when the large-screen film format was exclusively the domain of science and nature documentaries shown in museums. The state of Imax projection technology at the time, combined with the high cost of maintenance, made it unfeasible for movie theaters to include them in their multiplexes. This began to change in 2000, when Disney released “Fantasia 2000” in Imax for a special engagement. While the film was a box office disappointment, critics praised the cutting-edge Imax presentation. With the development of the digital media remastering process a few years later, studios began exploring releasing their biggest tentpole films in the Imax format, with Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” among the first hit films to use the format in 2004. When Gelfond became sole CEO in 2009, Imax began its push to its current status as a box office kingmaker, using technological advancements to make it easier and easier for theaters around the world to add the company’s auditoriums to their cineplexes. Imax set a company record in 2023 with $1.06 billion in global box office grosses in its auditoriums thanks to movies like “Oppenheimer,” and at the start of 2025, Gelfond predicted the company would break that record with $1.2 billion this year.