Gotta catch ’em all. Imax China, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of the US cinema technology group, is the latest company caught up in the hype about Pokémon Go. On Wednesday Legendary Entertainment, a subsidiary of Wanda Group, reportedly won the rights to make a feature film based on Pokémon character Pikachu. Shares in Imax China — for whom Wanda is a big customer — rose as much as one-tenth and closed up 4 per cent.

There was much more to the rise, however, than a monster craze. Also on Thursday, Imax China announced its first set of interim results since listing in September. This registered a turnround to net profit after losses in the prior first half, on revenues that are up a quarter. The figures suggest more upside lies ahead.

Superficially, the numbers were not encouraging. Imax China makes money by selling and maintaining screens, film distribution and revenue-sharing. Box office revenues rose a mere 3 per cent, within which the take per screen fell nearly one-quarter. But much of that decline was due to a tough comparison base: Fast and Furious 7 screened in the first half of 2015. Encouragingly for the full year, the box office for June 2016 was up more than a half as blockbusters including Warcraft were released.