Where we heard itBarron’s Streetwise podcast, episode “The Disruption Scorecard,” Oct. 16, 2026. Speaker: Jack Hough, host. Listen
The Walt DisneyDIS film Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters around Christmas time, and it is losing IMAX screens to Dune: Part Three, a film shot on IMAX cameras. Disney answered with Infinity Vision, its own premium big-screen brand. Shareholders of IMAXIMAX now have a new competitor to account for.
On the October 16 episode of Barron’s Streetwise, host Jack Hough gave Disney’s plan four Schumps on his disruption scorecard, out of a possible five. His summary: “On paper, this plan looks like gold.”
How IMAX Earns Twice From Scarce Screens
Hough’s argument starts with shortage. IMAX screens “fetch premium prices,” he said, but “there aren’t enough IMAX theaters to go around.” He said IMAX “has used this shortage to favor films that were shot using its cameras. That’s another way it makes money. And effectively here it’s double dipping on fees.”
In plain terms, IMAX makes money from the theater systems it places with exhibitors and again from the camera technology filmmakers shoot on. The model has been working. IMAX set a record of $1.28B in global box office in 2025 and took a record 3.8% of global box office. On the July 23 earnings call, CEO Rich Gelfond said The Odyssey drew 20% of its worldwide opening from IMAX on less than 1% of total screens. He also asked a question that bears directly on Disney: “Could Avengers have dated differently than right on top of Dune?”
Disney Courts Rival Studios for Infinity Vision
Disney launched Infinity Vision in April as a certification for premium large-format theaters. Hough said it announced this month that “a host of big studios are on board. We’re talking Universal, Paramount, Sony and others.” Bloomberg reported in early October that Disney had held talks with Paramount, Universal, Sony and Lionsgate, and that some studios were waiting to see how Avengers: Doomsday performs before committing. As a test, Disney re-released the 2019 Avengers film in the format. Hough said the re-release “did a big enough number to nudge it ahead of Avatar as the top seller ever. That’s a catalog film making good money in theaters.” Of the studios Hough named, Paramount Skydance closed its combination with Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6, and the merged company is now called Skydance.
Disney has the slate to support the effort. Entertainment segment operating income rose 64% to $1.68B in fiscal Q3, and CEO Josh D’Amaro said on the August call that “audiences will turn out in force for great theatrical experiences.”
Theaters Already Own the Screens Disney Wants
Many chains already run premium screens that carry no IMAX branding. Hough said those brands are ones “no one really recognizes. There’s AMC Prime and Cinemark XD.” Disney’s plan renames those auditoriums as Infinity Vision with better marketing, so studios and theaters keep higher cuts. In Hough’s words: “Disney’s plan looks cheap for theaters and for studios, and just the threat of it could keep IMAX in check on fees.”
What IMAX is defending
Why Barron’s Held Back One Schump
On Barron’s Streetwise, Hough took off one Schump “only because no one has really done much of anything yet.” Audio producer Emily Sumlin supported the high opening score: “Like every good movie, your first week should be the biggest at the box office. So let’s start big.”
IMAX has a response. Gelfond said The Odyssey proved that “knockoffs and marketing gimmicks won’t cut it.” The company repeated guidance for $1.4B in 2026 global box office and has a backlog of 421 systems.
What Disney and IMAX Shareholders Should Track Next
IMAX closed at $50.82 on October 16, up 37.5% year to date and 61% over one year. Hough said on the Barron’s podcast that IMAX stock is down 8% from its late September peak. By the Oct. 16 close, shares were 9.8% below their September 29 closing high of $56.33. Fundamentals remain strong: Q2 adjusted EPS of $0.43 beat the $0.28 average analyst estimate compiled by Zacks, and adjusted EBITDA margin reached 46.6%, according to its Q2 2026 earnings release. For a company with a market cap of roughly $2.8B, any pressure on fees would hit harder than it would at Disney.
Disney closed at $110.59, up 2.35% over the past week and down 2.8% year to date, at a P/E of about 15. On Streetwise a week earlier, Hough called Charter’s low earnings multiple a warning. For Disney, Infinity Vision gives it a way to win back premium screens for its own films, which matters to an Entertainment segment guided to double-digit OI growth this fiscal year.
The key question is how Avengers: Doomsday plays across premium screens in December, and which theater chains formally adopt the Infinity Vision label. Broad adoption by exhibitors would give Hough’s missing Schump a reason to come back.
Hough gives Disney’s Infinity Vision four Schumps out of five because it lets studios and theaters rebrand premium screens they already run, which could cap the fees IMAX charges. The risk to that view is that little has happened yet: other studios were still in talks in October, and films shot for IMAX keep drawing outsized crowds, as The Odyssey did with 20% of its opening weekend.