IMAX CHINA HOLDING, INC. IMAX CHINA HOLDING, INC. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands with limited liability Stock code : 1970 Annual Report 2018 Annual Report Annual Report 2018 Chairman’s Statement 1 IMAX CHINA HOLDING, INC. Chairman’s Statement LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS • We introduced new partners into the IMAX family, Dear Shareholders, such as the exhibition company of China Resources Land, one of the largest state-owned real estate I’m delighted to present you with IMAX China’s 2018 developers in China annual results. Overall, we think our efforts last year enable us to Looking back, 2018 was a pivotal year for the Company capitalize on what is shaping up to be a blockbuster and we believe our achievements have set the stage for 2019. IMAX China to have a blockbuster year in 2019. I am pleased to note that we have hit the ground running Our mission was simple: enhance all aspects of our core in 2019. During the recent the 2019 Chinese New Year business. We committed to increasing the differentiation holiday, IMAX box offi ce increased 40% compared to of The IMAX Experience®, more effectively marketing the 2018 holiday period, whereas the industry was fl at the IMAX® brand in China and further refi ning our year-over-year. Year-to-date, our box offi ce is up 61% programming strategy. As evidenced by our record box compared to last year. The most signifi cant driving offi ce year in 2018 and fantastic start to 2019, it is clear force of our robust performance was the hit fi lm, The that these efforts have already begun paying dividends. Wandering Earth, which is now the highest grossing IMAX fi lm of all time in China, eclipsing Avengers: Infi nity A few of the many milestones we achieved last year, War. To date, this fi lm delivered $45 million of IMAX box include: offi ce. Equally as impressive was our market share. On the 2019 Chinese New Year day, we indexed 11% of the • Record IMAX box offi ce of $337 million, up 16% fi lm’s box offi ce, and up to 26 February 2019 we indexed compared to 2017, which doubled the industry approximately 8% of the fi lm’s total box offi ce in China, growth rate. notwithstanding IMAX only accounting for roughly 1% of the total screens in China. While these numbers are • We broke box offi ce records in the fourth quarter with impressive on their own, the more important takeaway the release of Aquaman, which opened to a record is that this fi lm is viewed as one of the fi rst high-quality $10 million in IMAX® theatres. science-fi ction Chinese fi lms and will likely lead to additional fi lms of this scale and production value. • The launch of our new IMAX® with Laser experience, which further differentiates The IMAX Experience from Taking a step back, the reason IMAX tends to outperform other options available to consumers — to date, we on global blockbusters such as The Wandering Earth have already signed agreements for 20 systems. and Aquaman lies in our differentiated experience, an experience you can only get in IMAX theatres. This • The launch of our new brand campaign, which seeks experience has continuously improved over our 50-plus to better articulate to consumers, “Why IMAX?” year history and last year we made it even better, with the launch of our new IMAX with Laser experience. The • We began working more closely with online ticketing benefi ts of the experience are clear: brighter and more platforms, where 85% of tickets in China are sold. vivid images coupled with a more immersive sound experience. In essence, it takes The IMAX Experience to • We programmed more Chinese language the next level. Since being made available in China late blockbusters, which accounted for 30% of our total last year, we have signed 20 systems and have installed PRC box offi ce, up from 24% in 2017. Annual Report 2018 1 Chairman’s Statement (Continued) 11 systems including upgrades. We are thrilled with the Our strong balance sheet and cash fl ow from operations early reactions from our partners and look forward to have provided opportunities to pursue such strategic continuing to roll out this experience across China. core business initiatives while at the same time returning over $27 million of capital in 2018 to shareholders via The next area we have spent a lot of time on recently is dividends and share buybacks. marketing. As we continue to increase the differentiation of our experience, it is becoming increasingly important I am encouraged by our strong performance last year that we effectively show consumers the benefi ts of seeing and believe the major developments I mentioned above their favorite blockbusters in IMAX and more effectively will continue to drive more box offi ce dollars through answer the question, “Why IMAX?” Our new brand our network and increase the earnings power of our campaign launched in July 2018 and has since been business. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity adopted by major studios including Disney and Warner to express my utmost gratitude to our employees, Brothers, who embraced our new brand efforts to help shareholders and business partners for their continued market several of their tentpole titles last year both within support of IMAX China. and outside China. Thank you, We launched our new marketing campaign in conjunction with a broader effort to more strategically partner with Richard L. Gelfond the key ticketing platforms, through which 85% of movie tickets in China are sold. Improving our positioning on these platforms is important and represents a signifi cant opportunity for us to improve IMAX’s positioning at the point-of-sale and throughout the distribution process for local and Hollywood fi lms. While there is still work to be done, we are encouraged with our progress and believe our recent box offi ce performance is in part, a result of our marketing refi nements. In February 2019 we invested $15 million, becoming a cornerstone investor in Maoyan’ s recent IPO. Maoyan is the largest ticketing platform in China, accounting for roughly 60% of all movie tickets sold in the country. This investment illustrates the conviction we have in the power of their business in driving consumers to cinemas, as well as the overall consumer-entertainment market in China. Overall, our achievements in 2018 better enable us to capitalize on the exciting years ahead — starting with our optimistic outlook for 2019. We further differentiated our technology, increased the awareness of the IMAX brand, fi ne-tuned our programming strategy, and forged new partnerships with various strategic stakeholders. 2 IMAX CHINA HOLDING, INC. Exclusive licensee of the IMAX brand in the theatre and fi lms business in Greater China with access to global partnerships Sole commercial platform for the release of IMAX fi lms in Greater China, which is the second largest and fastest growing major cinema market in the world One of the strongest entertainment brands in Greater China(1) Unique cinematic experience and end-to-end cinematic solution Largest non-conventional theatre network with highest average box offi ce per screen in Greater China and signifi cant ticket price premium Note 1. According to a survey conducted by Milward Brown Research Annual Report 2018 3 Record Box Office and Improved Margins BOX OFFICE AND MOVIES IMAX China Box Offi ce In 2018, we hit new heights with our gross box offi ce, 30.0% which grew by 16% to $336.6 million. We exhibited 45 titles in mainland China last year, which included 19 Chinese 24.1% 22.7% titles and 9 of the top 10 grossing fi lms. Chinese language fi lms accounted for 30% of the total box offi ce, driven by our refi ned multi fi lm programming strategy for local fi lms during critical release windows. During the Chinese New Year, we screened Detective Chinatown 2, Monster Hunt 336.6 295.7 2 and Operation Red Sea, all of which became major 290.8 blockbusters. As a result, our box offi ce increased 75% through the seven-day period. We also had a successful summer, capturing blockbusters such as Dying to Survive and the Chinese/Hollywood co production of The Meg. 2016 2017 2018 Greater China Box Office Chinese Language % in PRC Hollywood titles for 2018 were led by Avengers: Infi nity War, our top grossing Hollywood fi lm of all time at $45 million in Greater China. Avengers: Infi nity War was complemented by other signifi cant titles including Ready Player One, Jurassic World 2 Fallen Kingdom, Venom and Aquaman, each holding respective records upon opening. Our performance, indexing and market share on Hollywood titles remains consistently strong relative to all other screens and offerings IMAX China Theatre Network IMAX NETWORK AND BACKLOG In 2018, we installed 101 systems. 70 were Revenue Sharing theatres, 27 Sales and Sales-type Lease theatres 639 and 4 IMAX with Laser upgrades. We installed 11 IMAX with Laser systems in total. 94 544 80 424 As of December 31 2018, our Greater China network 66 316 included 639 theatres in 185 cities with backlog of 272 260 272 systems comprised of 98 Full Revenue Share, 98 Hybrid 195 Revenue Share and 76 Sales and Sales-type Lease 98 systems. 98 204 229 163 76 2016 2017 2018 Backlog Sales & Sales-type Lease Theatres Full Revenue Sharing Theatres Hybrid Revenue Sharing Theatres 4 IMAX CHINA HOLDING, INC. NETWORK BUSINESS Network Business Revenue Our Network Business revenue consists of all revenue driven from box offi ce, including fi lm revenue and box offi ce revenue from revenue sharing arrangements and 64.1% 65.0% sales & sales-type lease arrangements.