Imax Falls 12% After ‘Twilight’ Sales Trail Some Estimates

Imax Corp. (IMAX), operator of big-screen movie theaters, fell 12 percent after reporting sales for “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” that trailed some investors’ estimates.

Imax theaters took in $9 million from theaters in the U.S. and Canada, the Mississauga, Ontario-based company said today in a statement distributed by Globe Newswire. The shares fell $1.70 to $12.25 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading at 4:29 p.m. New York time. The stock has slipped 8 percent this year.

Imax’s 5.1 percent share of “Eclipse” sales and the film’s per-screen average were lower than investors anticipated, Eric Wold, a New York-based analyst with Merriman Curhan Ford & Co., said in an e-mailed response to a question. The film generated $175 million in sales during its first six days of release, including the U.S. July 4 holiday.

“Eclipse,” the third film in the teen-vampire series based on Stephenie Meyer’s novels, opened on 193 Imax screens, the company said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net